I was a high school student at the time of the Columbine shooting, and I vividly recall the feelings of shock and sadness I experienced in the days following the tragedy. Given the powerlessness I felt as a teenager in the aftermath of Columbine, I am in awe of the strength, maturity, and determination exhibited by students across the country in the weeks following the Parkland shooting.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights Supreme Court decision in Newman v. Piggie Park, which ruled that businesses cannot justify discrimination — such as refusing to serve Black customers as was the case then — because of religion.

Last year a Baltimore school police officer pled guilty to assault charges for slapping and kicking a 16-year-old student. In 2015, another school police officer pled guilty to assault charges after walloping an unarmed middle school on the forehead with a baton and pepper spraying two other girls.

The Work of Ensuring Civil Rights

Describing the work of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as part of a liberal “ideological agenda” establishes a simplistic and unacceptable right-left balance that denigrates core civil rights work. Racial equality is a universal and central core value of unique importance to America’s post-Civil War identity, not an ideological agenda.

In her one-woman show Notes from the Field, Anna Deavere Smith exposes the consequences of America’s abandonment of our most vulnerable and troubled children. She reveals that what is now known as the “school-to-prison pipeline” is, in fact, the sum of our failures to meet the needs of our children — in particular, children of color.

LDF’s President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill sat down with Crooked Media’s DeRay Mckesson for the latest episode of the ‘Pod Save the People’ podcast. She discussed LDF’s efforts to advance voting rights as well as our work ensuring that only qualified judicial nominees are able to join the federal bench.

The Jan. 29 article regarding the Tulane University report on the 'gavel gap: rightly notes the stark under-representation of women and people of color on the Louisiana state bench, yet does not analyze why this gap persists.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill joined Democracy Now! to discuss the ongoing trial of two Baltimore police officers who are part of what has been described as one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation.

I wasn’t prepared to hear the news that Michael Slager, the police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott, would have to spend 20 years in prison for depriving him of his civil rights. His sentencing in federal court last month was unusual at best. As we’ve seen time and again, even the most egregious forms of police brutality tend to go unpunished.

When Donald Trump made his campaign pitch to African-American voters in Michigan, he clung to an image of black America that’s as racialized as it is entrenched in the minds of many of his supporters. “You’re living in poverty. Your schools are no good.

Suppose that in the last two years, you didn't show up to vote. Perhaps you couldn't make it to the polls, despite your best efforts, because it conflicted with your unpredictable work or child care schedule. Or perhaps you decided to abstain from voting in protest because you weren't pleased with any of the candidates. Or maybe you just forgot.

The case—Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute—is before the Supreme Court, which is poised to hear oral arguments on Wednesday morning. The legal challenge touches a lot of things—the National Voting Registration Act, the intent of voting laws packaged in neutral language, the threat of massive voter purges, a national context in which black voters and voters of color are being kept out of the voting booth—but it’s also about the right not to vote. Which is almost as fundamental as its opposite.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill joined MSNBC's Joy Ann Reid to discuss why LDF sued Trump's Voter Suppression Commission, and why the fight isn't over even though the Commission has been disbanded.

President Donald Trump’s slapdash commission on election integrity, which he disbanded earlier this week, exists now only in the dustbin of history. But we should not assume that his administration’s attacks on voters of color are over.

President Trump has disbanded his sham voter fraud commission, citing lawsuits like the one LDF filed along with MALDEF and LatinoJustice/PRLDEF as an overwhelming reason. This is certainly a victory, but it’s important to know that we are not out of the woods yet.

Thurgood Marshall Institute Senior Fellow Richard Rothstein joins Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to discuss his book, "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America," which examines how discriminatory U.S. housing policies have kept generations of African Americans from realizing the American dream.

LDF Policy Director Todd A. Cox joins Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to discuss voting rights in Alabama, including our letter to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill about issues our Prepared to Vote team observed during the special election.

Politicians, pundits, and the press are still figuring out what the election of Doug Jones means for Alabama — a state that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump and that seemed all but destined to make Roy Moore, the twice-removed judge, the heir to the former Senate seat of Jeff Sessions.

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed yet another one of President Donald Trump's nominees to serve on our appellate courts. L. Steven Grasz, who was deemed “unanimously not qualified” by the nonpartisan American Bar Association, will now sit on the Eighth Circuit. That shocking “unanimously not qualified” rating — the lowest one possible — has been awarded just twice before in the last 27 years.

The majority of Columbus, Ohio’s, city council members are African Americans. But the city’s method for electing city council members is racially discriminatory, or at least this is what Jonathan Beard, a developer in Columbus’s poorest neighborhoods, is trying to prove. And the nation’s oldest and most respected civil rights organization thinks that he may have a point.

Next week’s oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop involves a familiar story: Three customers walk into a small business that sells specialty foods. The owner is said to be an “artist” for his unique culinary skills and believes his religious convictions imbue his work. The owner turns the customers away entirely or denies them access to the full range of his products because these religious beliefs forbid him from serving a particular group of persons.

As most Americans celebrated with their families over the Thanksgiving holiday, they likely missed the three-year anniversary of Tamir Rice’s senseless killing at the hands of police for playing with a toy gun in Cleveland, Ohio. Each time the anniversary passes, I can’t help but think of my own son, who was 11 and as full of life as Tamir was when he was killed. He’s now 14.

In 2020, the federal government will undertake the monumental and important task of attempting to count each person residing within our country’s borders. An exercise that has taken place every 10 years, since 1790, and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, it cannot be overstated how important the Census is to the well-functioning, representative democracy that our country strives to be. The Black community that the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

On Friday, November 17th, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a memo prohibiting the Department of Justice (DOJ) from issuing guidance documents that “have the effect of adopting new regulatory requirements or amending the law.” The memo added that in the past, DOJ and other agencies have failed to make the distinction between guidance in

Watch LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill join Ari Melber to discuss the staggering lack of diversity and proper qualifications among President Trump's nominees for the federal judiciary.

Rolling Back Diversity on the Federal Bench

Following the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) called on Congress to exercise its oversight authority over the Department of Justice (DOJ) to ensure the agency was doing everything in its power to prosecute hate and domestic terrorism crimes, and to enforce civil rights laws.

Beverly Harrison was standing at an intersection around the corner from McNair Elementary School in Dallas, Texas. It was her second week as a crossing guard, and she was still getting used to the new job. Suddenly, someone emerged from the building to deliver a message: Human Resources wanted to see her. Harrison, 61, went to the office and was told something came up on her background check—an assault charge from 1975. She should turn in her things, they said. Dallas County Schools, after discovering she had a criminal record, was letting her go.

President Trump’s judicial nominees are front and center in the Senate this week, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority — unable to advance their conservative agenda with legislation — move to reshape the judiciary with far-right and highly partisan judges. The Senate is scheduled to confirm five judges this week, including four to the circuit courts of appeals.

Fourteen years ago this week, a white sitting judge in Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish attended a Halloween party at a public restaurant dressed as a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, wearing an Afro wig and blackface makeup. His wife accompanied him, clad as a cop.

In 2016, the NAACP LDF, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Muslim Advocates asked the federal agency to begin investigating stories in the news of passengers who had been kicked off planes but hadn’t filed formal complaints. The Department of Transportation declined that request.

"Public money is going to a private law firm to stop the remedial process and defend discrimination," said Leah Aden, senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She noted that this is happening even as Louisiana — which has long had a justice system rife with racial inequality — faces a billion-dollar budget deficit.

The Wisconsin voting rights case before the Supreme Court has been cast as the definitive test of whether partisan gerrymandering is permitted by the Constitution. But a closer look at the case and others like it shows that race remains an integral element of redistricting disputes, even when the intent of those involved was to give one party an advantage.

Consider Gill v. Whitford, the Wisconsin case that was argued last week before the nation’s highest court.

Democracy costs. To be sustained, it requires time, deliberation and constant vigilance. These costs are high enough.

But some states are manufacturing additional costs to undermine our democracy. Texas’ dogged defense of its racially discriminatory voter ID law is a prime example.

For the fourth time in three years, a federal court has declared Texas’s voter ID law racially discriminatory. The law prohibits voting for those without a narrow selection of photo IDs — primarily Black and Latino Texans.

Issues surrounding mandatory individual arbitration may not capture the nation’s attention like healthcare or the NFL, but they are at the center of debate in all three branches of government. Our commitment to equal justice is being tested, and the rights of consumers and employees hang in the balance.

Supreme Court decisions dating back to the early 1990s have enabled mandatory arbitration clauses to become nearly ubiquitous in the fine print of employment and consumer contracts.

A Decades-Old Conviction Cost Me My Post Retirement Job

Transportation is another hurdle,especially in Texas, wherethe nearest ID office for people in rural areas can be up to 170 miles away. As Harvey tears up infrastructure and floods major highways, it will be even harder for residents to make their way along necessary routes.

The Breach: Fighting Trump's Efforts to Suppress the Vote

In tweets and statements, Senate Republicans have emphatically distanced themselves from President Trump’s morally bankrupt response to the violent white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville. When Trump blamed “both sides” and said that “many fine people” were among the torch-bearing neo Nazis, the bipartisan rebuke was swift.

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Christian Picciolini, Founder of Life After Hate, and Elle Reeve, VICE News joined Face the Nation to discuss the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville and the President’s unacceptable response as well as why white supremacist groups feel so emboldened now, how big a threat are they, and what should happen to Confederate statues.

There's Never Been "Many Sides" to American Racial Terror

President Trump’s assertion that “both sides” are responsible for the racial hatred and violence in Charlottesville is false. The white supremacists that gathered on Saturday proudly flaunted their arsenal of automatic weapons and shields. They relied not only on their weapons, but also on Nazi and Confederate imagery to try to intimidate counter-protestors.

Trump race crisis a test for Congress to take real action

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Congress can do more than the bare minimum of tweeting condemnation of racism to address the actual problem with legislation.

Racial Justice Demands Affirmative Action

President Trump’s Justice Department has hardly been worthy of its name. It has retreated from meaningful police reform, argued on behalf of state laws that suppress minority voting rights, directed prosecutors to seek harsh sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, and extended the federal government’s power to seize the property of innocent Americans.

Trump's Voter Fraud Panel Holds First Public Meeting

Voting rights activists Vanita Gupta and Sherrilyn Ifill join Joy Reid to discuss what many see as the effort to codify and nationalize initiatives that experts say ultimately result in voter suppression.

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill was on WYPR's program Midday with Tom Hall for an episode entitled “Do Black Lives Matter to the Criminal Justice System?” Sherrilyn was joined by Angela J. Davis, Professor at the Washington College of Law at American University.

Five More Things You Didn't Know About Thurgood Marshall

Trump Seen Hatching Voter Suppression Plan With New Fraud Group

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about why Donald Trump's history and the people he is putting on his voter fraud commission point to a goal of suppressing voter participation.

There’s a troubling but little-known trend in American public education that, in many cases, threatens to undo efforts to desegregate our nation’s schools: school secession. Simply put, school secession is when a community attempts to split from its local school district.

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, a devastating ruling that immobilized a part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that was one of the most effective tools for protecting voters and strengthening our political process.

In December, Buffalo School Board member Carl Paladino — who has a long history of making racist comments — made a series of outrageous "wishes" for 2017, including for then-President Barack Obama to "[catch] mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a [cow]," and for Michelle Obama "to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla."

Generally pursued through the guise of local control, secession efforts further cement school segregation along racial and socioeconomic lines and often exacerbate inequalities between low- and high-income schools, the report found. After decades of increased integration following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling inBrown v.

Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for three of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees may lack the intrigue of James Comey’s blockbuster testimony, but for anyone who cares about the integrity and independence of America’s courts, the stakes could hardly be higher. The hearing will illustrate how Trump is advancing an anti-civil rights agenda—not just through executive orders and agency actions, but by attempting to alter the makeup of the judiciary.

More than 20 years later, I remain of the view that the report’s findings, including on the importance of ensuring diversity through electoral subdistricts, continues to resonate today. For example, in Terrebonne Parish, a federal lawsuit seeks to create a majority-black subdistrict to elect one judge of the 32nd Judicial District Court, the state court there. Between 1968, when the 32nd JDC was created, and 2014, when the lawsuit was filed, no black person had ever served on that court.

This week marks the 63rd anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that outlawed racial segregation in our nation's schools, fundamentally redefining the meaning of equality in American law.

LDF Policy Director Todd A. Cox joined NPR/WBUR’s program On Point to discuss sentencing reform – and the policy reversal – at the Justice Department.Other guests included: Matt Zapotosky, a reporter covering the Justice Department for the Washington Post's national security team; and Bill Otis, an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and Former Assistant U.S.

Residential segregation exacerbates many national problems. In education, a black-white achievement gap persists largely because the poorest pupils are concentrated in racially homogenous schools where instruction is overwhelmed by children’s out-of-school challenges; these schools are segregated because their neighborhoods are segregated.

Sixty-three years ago on Wednesday, the Supreme Court prohibited school segregation. In the South, Brown v. Board of Education was enforced slowly and fitfully for two decades; then progress ground to a halt. Nationwide, black students are now less likely to attend schools with whites than they were half a century ago. Was Browna failure?

Sessions’ disastrous drug crime policy

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has revealed that he is willing to trash longstanding Senate tradition and undermine his Senate colleagues to hand control of the federal courts over to President Donald Trump.

Justice delayed is justice denied. For too long, that's been the case in Harris County, where people languish behind bars for weeks and months awaiting trial for minor, nonviolent misdemeanors because they cannot afford bail. Enough is enough. The time has come for Harris County to leave its wealth-based bail system in the past, take a seat at the settlement table, and fully commit to forward-thinking bail reform.

On average, the number of school-aged children in seceding districts is about 4,000 compared to the roughly 32,000 school-aged children that comprise the districts from which they secede, according to the EdBuild analysis.

The question of whether the rights of black voters are violated by the practice of at-large voting for judges in Terrebonne Parish is now fully in the hands of a federal judge, whose verdict is expected in August.

Friday afternoon more than one hundred black men and women from Terrebonne Parish packed a third-floor courtroom at the Russell B. Long Federal Courthouse in Baton Rouge, to witness the last day of testimony in an eight-day trial that stretched over two months. Many came from in busses chartered by local churches.

In places with black minorities, at-large voting is an especially effective way to circumvent the VRA’s requirements that electoral districts maintain some sort of geographic and demographic coherence. That’s because the very nature of Jim Crow tended to pack black communities into dense natural districts; they became the basis for post-VRA voting districts, which have since provided most of the country’s elected black officials in places that use district-based voting. At-large voting neatly sidestepped that consequence.

The change in boundaries came at the urging of the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the country’s first civil rights law firm.

“We believe that the city’s current electoral plan may undermine the opportunity of black voters in Florissant to participate equally in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice,” wrote Legal Defense Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill and three other attorneys from the firm in a letter two years ago to Mayor Thomas Schneider.

Judge strikes down Texas voter ID law for a second time

In 2012, federal judges ruled that a Texas voter ID law violated the Voting Rights Act, but Republican lawmakers fought repeatedly to keep the law in place, saying it prevented in-person voter fraud. It has now been struck down for a second time. Omar Villafranca has more.

"What Attorney General Sessions is attempting to do is to take us back to a time to when policing was a failure, when the practices failed," Monique Dixon, a lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's policing reform campaign, said in an interview.

Sessions orders review of police reform deals

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, joins Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss Attorney General Jeff Sessions working to undo police reforms developed under the Obama administration.

Florida's First Black State Attorney Faces Death Threats After Refusing Death Penalty for Cop Killer

As the Judiciary Committee begins in earnest its questioning of Judge Neil Gorsuch about his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, the Senators are sure to raise a range of very important constitutional and philosophic questions. But with limited time available and so many issues to discuss, LDF has identified the three key questions Senators should ask about Judge Gorsuch’s record on civil rights.

Today, March 20th 2017, we celebrate the 77th anniversary of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). To many, LDF is best known for ending school segregation through the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. LDF is also well-known for the pivotal work of its founder and first Director-Counsel, Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. But did you know that LDF helped map the successful 1965 Selma to Montgomery march?

Neil Gorsuch's Conservative Record Revealed

Neil Gorsuch will sit in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow--and his record shows that he is more conservative than many people think. Joy and her panel discuss the Supreme Court nominee.

The plaintiffs in the Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation case are more frustrated than anyone that a significant number of Hartford students of color remain in highly segregated, low-performing schools. We are now more than two decades past the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that, as a result of racial and ethnic isolation in Hartford's schools, "[e]very passing day denies ... children their constitutional right to a substantially equal education."

Across the country, state legislatures have responded to a very real and ongoing national policing crisis by proposing “Blue Lives Matter” legislation, which is often more of a political statement than anything else. Kentucky’s House Bill 14 is one such bill and is no less divisive and unnecessary than those introduced in other states. It is vital that the citizens of Kentucky urge Gov. Matt Bevin to veto it.

"If you look at the 23rd Judicial District or the 16th Judicial District, they all have districts like the one we're trying to achieve, which is a district where black voters are the majority," said Leah Aden, attorney for the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is representing the local NAACP chapter in the trial.

Janai Nelson, along with Marc Morial of the National Urban League, joins MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports to weigh in on a meeting with civil rights leaders and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as well as the Texas Voter ID case which LDF is litigating.

Later this month, the fight for genuine diversity and for equal electoral voting opportunity will continue when civil rights advocates go to trial against the governor and attorney general of Louisiana in federal court in Baton Rouge to challenge the use of at-large voting to elect judges of the 32nd Judicial District Court, the state court that covers Terrebonne Parish.

Will son of Selma, Jeff Sessions, protect voting rights?

A federal lawsuit challenging Alabama's requirement that voters present photo identification before they can cast a ballot was filed in 2015 on behalf of the Alabama NAACP and Greater Birmingham Ministries. The lawsuit alleges the 2011 photo ID law is racially discriminatory, violating the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A trial has been set for December in the case.

The Alabama attorney general's office, which represents Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill in the lawsuit, declined comment Friday.

On February 27, the Department of Justice announced an abrupt about-face on voting rights, essentially walking away from a lawsuit against a harsh voter ID law in Texas. Dahlia Lithwick, host of Slate's Amicus podcast, discusses the reversal and its implications with Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Voter fraud paranoia vs. voting rights protection

Although “voter fraud” has long been on the list of myths perpetuated by state-level Republican leaders to justify onerous voter ID laws, even Republican members of Congress have refused to endorse the president’s views about widespread voter fraud.

In 1953, I integrated Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. My admission, as the first black student on a campus today serving more than 30,000 students, was possible after my father and namesake, civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud Sr., successfully challenged LSU’s discriminatory admissions policies.

I asked Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, what this institutional silencing signifies. “We should remember that this letter was somehow never made part of the official Senate Judiciary Committee record in 1986, was reportedly kept from public release by the chair of the Committee in 2017, and now has been blocked from being read aloud in prime time by the Senate Majority Leader,” she told me in an email. “The deliberate silencing of Mrs.

Judge Pryor is just one of dozens of federal judges around the country who have ruled that states or municipalities have diluted, disenfranchised, or otherwise devised illegal, unconstitutional schemes to deny minorities their rightful electoral power. Just weeks before the Alabama decision, George W. Bush appointee Judge Lee Rosenthal issued a decision finding that Pasadena, Texas implemented a voting plan for city council seats that ensured that “Latino voters do not have the same right to vote as their Anglo neighbors.”

Hearing Underscores Betsy DeVos Unqualified to Lead Department of Education

The confirmation hearing of Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos did little to assuage our concerns about her fitness to serve. In fact, her testimony raised new apprehensions. It seems clear from her responses to questions presented by senators, Ms. DeVos is unaware of her legal obligations under critical federal education laws.

“This voter fraud lie has been used to disenfranchise black voters for the last 150 years,” Leah Aden, a senior counsel with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, told The Intercept, citing a renewed crackdown on voting rights following historic black voter turnout in 2008 and 2012, as well as the 2010 census revealing the country’s transformed demographics. “This voter fraud lie is a dangerous distraction from the voter suppression schemes that have been in place for the past several years.”

Leah Aden, senior counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said by email that her organization was pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision, calling the Fifth Circuit’s decision “a victory for Texas voters, particularly the 600,000 registered and one million eligible voters who lack one of the limited forms of photo ID that SB 14 requires.”

LDF’s President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill sat down with MTV’s Jamil Smith for the latest episode of ‘The Stakes’ podcast. She discussed LDF’s efforts in transforming police departments across the country and the nomination of Jeff Sessions for United States Attorney General.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said she and many others in the civil rights community "had hoped that we would have had a conclusion one way or the other" in the Gray and Garner cases by the time Lynch departed, "but at the same time we are waiting very soberly, because we understand that the standard in the federal civil rights cases is a high standard."

Death by Zip Code

The DOJ’s new report on Chicago makes a pretty thorough case that the city’s police department as a whole—rather than a few bad-apple officers—needs an overhaul. But Monique Dixon, deputy director of policy and senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said she doesn’t expect Sessions will look to use federal courts to force change troubled police departments—like Chicago’s—to change.

“It just completely changes the calculus,” said Deuel Ross, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “These discriminatory changes can go into effect and stay in effect for years, while someone has to spend millions of dollars and hire an attorney in order to even potentially win it.”

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill joins the first episode of Diane Rehm’s podcast for a lengthy conversation on the confirmation hearings for Senator Jeff Sessions as he seeks to be the Attorney General of the United States. Segment begins at minute 9:40.

Heed Coretta Scott King's warning on Sessions

Civil rights laws -- from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act of 2009 -- have been instrumental in bending the arc of this country. Among the most important of these civil rights laws is the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which created the Civil Rights division of the Department of Justice and made the attorney general the chief enforcer of the nation's civil rights laws.

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill discusses the confirmation hearing of Sen. Jeff Sessions, nominee for United States Attorney General, and the future of policing reform if Sessions is confirmed as the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

Voting rights are under siege in a way that hasn’t been seen in more than a generation. But these coordinated attacks follow a historic pattern: Laws that expanded the franchise during Reconstruction and after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act have typically been followed by state-level repression and federal indifference. “With advancements in voting rights, there is always a swift backlash,” says Leah Aden, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

AMY GOODMAN:Kyle Barry, you’re policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. You authored the report on Jeff Sessions. Why did you find it necessary to write a report on this nomination in particular?

Sessions Nomination Faces Resistance

Joy Reid and her guests detail why many groups are organizing to oppose the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general of the United States, citing his past litigation related to civil rights.

Jeff Sessions is applying to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. The People’s Lawyer. If he could not even fill out the government job application for the post he seeks accurately and truthfully, how can he be expected to guide the Department of Justice with competence and integrity at a time when our country needs the robust enforcement of the rule of law more than ever? Sessions’s bad-faith effort to mislead the public about his qualifications should not be rewarded with an appointment to one of the most important positions in our government.

Congressional Resistance to Trump Begins Now

With Senator Jeff Sessions’s Attorney General nomination set for a confirmation hearing next month, he and President-elect Trump’s transition team have tried to rebrand his image into one of civil rights hero, asserting, without evidence, that Sessions has a “strong civil rights record.” Yet throughout his entire career, Sessions has been openly hostile to civil rights advocacy and the lawyers who

Kyle Barry, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, highlighted in a Medium post a 2010 letter from Sessions about how completely a judicial nominee filled out the Senate committee questionnaire.

At the time, Sessions sought to postpone the nominee’s hearing to maintain the integrity of the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, Barry wrote.

Random House hosts “Big Ideas Night” panel with LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill, MSNBC host and author Chris Hayes, author and journalist Rebecca Traister, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, and publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Jackson as moderator. They discussed the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential election, and what a Trump presidency could mean for America.

A memo released yesterday by a number of organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), revealed gaping holes in Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions’s response to his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire (SJQ) that preclude the Judiciary Committee from holding a thorough and complete hearing on his nomination.

Angel Harris, a staff attorney at the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said these jury trends are troubling considering the significant racial disparities in the way Americans experience and interact with law enforcement. She’s concerned that minority groups are being systematically disenfranchised and removed from the judicial process.

A bill introduced in the New York City Council proposes to establish “an office of school diversity within the human rights commission dedicated to studying the prevalence and causes of racial segregation in public schools and developing recommendations for remedying such segregation.”

But it is not reasonable, indeed it is misleading, to study school segregation in New York City without simultaneously studying residential segregation. The two cannot be separated.

How Democrats Must Fight the Confirmation of Jeff Sessions

The Senate Run-Off Race in Louisiana. It’s Important.

On November 8th, millions of Americans went to their local polling precincts and cast ballots in the general election. By the early morning of November 9th, voters knew not only the President-Elect but also who would occupy 99 of the 100 seats in the Senate when the 115th Congress is seated in January. The only seat yet to be filled is that for Louisiana, and the decision for this seat will be made on December 10th.

While Monique Dixon, the deputy director of policy for the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, is similarly concerned about the potential scaling back of federal investigations into police departments, she points out that the DOJ could have used the 1994 law more aggressively than it has even under President Obama. The division has only opened about 66 investigations since 1994, entering into consent decrees in about half of those cases.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Criminal Justice in the 21st Century

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund used the legal system to overcome separate but equal, desegregate schools and public facilities, and bring some measure of equal justice to African Americans living under Jim Crow laws in the U.S. What role does this legendary organization have now in the era of Black Lives Matter, and how would Thurgood Marshall interpret it all?

Civil Rights Advocates Question Donald Trump’s Alt-Right Disavowal

Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said Trump’s words would need to be followed by actions, such as dismissing Bannon and rescinding the offer of the U.S. attorney general post to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala).

“I think his disavowal is disingenuous in the context of how he is building his cabinet,” Nelson said.

Dylan Roof Shouldn't Get the Death Penalty

Today is the start of the federal death penalty trial of Dylann S. Roof, the white man accused of murdering black worshipers at the Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, S.C. The killings of “the Charleston Nine” last year were as violent and seared with racial hatred as the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till in Mississippi and the 1963 bombing of an Alabama church that killed four little girls.

Predatory Lending and the Fair Housing Act Before the Supreme Court

On Election Day, the Supreme Court will hear argument in a highly consequential case about lending discrimination and the subprime mortgage crisis. In this case, the City of Miami is trying to hold Wells Fargo and Bank of America accountable for well-documented deceptive, predatory lending practices. However, the banks, in an attempt to evade liability, are arguing that cities cannot seek relief from them for violations of the Fair Housing Act.

Appeals Courts are Dismantling Stricter Voter ID Laws

In August, a federal district judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, approved a settlement agreed to by state officials that voters without the state-approved ID should be able to sign a declaration that they faced "reasonable impediments" in obtaining one.

Those voters must be allowed to cast a regular ballot after they show an alternative form of ID, such as a voter registration card, utility bill or other form of government ID that's not on the state's list.

New Concerns About Voter Intimidation

A group called "Vote Protectors" is trying to recruit 3,000 poll watchers in key battleground states. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Sherrilyn Ifill and Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice join to discuss.

Winning in court, losing on the ground: uncertainty clouds U.S. voting rights

With early voting already under way ahead of the Nov. 8 election, local officials in several states are trying to enforce restrictions that have been suspended or struck down in court, civil rights advocates say. In some cases, the action appears to be the result of bureaucratic confusion. In other cases, they appear to be actively resisting the law.

Voting Suppression is the Real Election Scandal

“This is an unfortunate part of our history,” Leah Aden, a senior counsel with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, told The Intercept. “People are acutely aware of the changing demographics in this country and while we should all be working towards more people participating, there’s always been this segment of our country that has wanted to limit who is part of the political process.”

POTUS 2016: Voting While Black

Civil rights groups are already gearing up for an especially tense Election Day. Meanwhile, the federal government has been hobbled by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling in its ability to monitor elections in places with histories of voter intimidation. Of particular concern are states with loose open carry laws, where already, some armed Trump supporters have shown an interest in making their presence known at voting sites.

For a Rare Moment at the Supreme Court, the Genders Were on Equal Footing

Sullivan is a familiar player at the Supreme Court, but one of the female lawyers making her first argument at the court this month was Christina A. Swarns, director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Her organization did some research and believes she is the first African American woman to make an appearance at the court in three years.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the video shows that all of the officers need more training and that the officer who pepper-sprayed the girl is unfit for duty.

LDF Associate Director-Counsel Janai Nelson appeared on The 11th Hour with Brian Williams to discuss the fatal police-involved shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina. His death set off a wave of protests demanding more transparency, accountability for officers who engage in criminal acts, and an end to police violence.

Polling Places Become Battleground In U.S. Voting Rights Fight

While polling place cutbacks are on the rise across the country, including in some Democratic-run areas, the South's history of racial discrimination has made the region a focus of concern for voting rights advocates.

Sherrilyn Ifill, head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a recent interview that trials, with expert witnesses and voluminous records, were instrumental in rebutting the states’ rationale that the laws were needed to combat voter fraud and restore voters’ confidence in the election.

A Southern City Wants to Secede from Its School District, Raising Concerns about Segregation

“Resegregation is something that gets talked about a lot as sort of like a drip of water over time, and it eventually creates some huge hole in the wall,” said Monique Lin-Luse, a lawyer for the Legal Defense Fund. “This is a situation where you look and say no, actually . . . if we make a different choice, we can increase integration.”

Room for Compromise on Voter ID Laws?

These people had their voting rights restored and then yanked away again

Leah Aden, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, says that after 2008, people of color participated in the electoral process in record numbers; black and brown voters in most age groups vote Democrat. This may influence why some legislators don’t have the appetite for supporting restoration laws, Aden says.

Voting Rights Victories Piling Up

The Crusade of a Democratic Superlawyer with Multimillion-Dollar Backing

Some who have worked on voting issues for years are wary of the optics. “I love Marc, but I want to be very clear about who we are and who he represents,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, [President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP LDF.] “I don’t want what we have been doing for years [protecting minority voting rights] to be dismissed as partisan.”

After Freddie Gray: Looking to the Future

Last year as charges were announced against six Baltimore police officers for their role in the arrest and fatal injuries sustained by Freddie Gray, it seemed to many like a case in which police officers would finally be held accountable for the in-custody death of an unarmed black man.

Voter ID Rulings Could Impact Alabama

“It is important that now two federal appellate courts … are saying states have gone way too far with these kinds of restrictions on voting,” said Deuel Ross with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which filed the challenge to Alabama’s law. “We expect the judge will be made aware of that through our court filings and we expect him to take that into consideration.”

Democrats Are Spotlighting A Big Education Problem Pushing Kids Out of School

“What we know is that students cannot learn if they’re not in school,” said Dixon. “It shows us that at least they are aware of the problem. That there is at least a willingness to have a conversation about it. Whether it will become a reality, we’ll have to see.”

Why Voter Turnout Is So Low in New York's Primaries

Janai Nelson, the [Associate Director-Counsel] of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said holding federal and state primaries on different days and having closed primary elections are among the factors that contribute to low voter turnout in New York.

Often, NAACP members and leaders frame their efforts as the real world actuation of BLM’s justifiable outrage. Carlton Mayers, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Policing Reform Campaign, said activists making noise is critical to keep national attention on issues of racial injustice.

GAO Report on Segregation Misses the Bigger Picture

Brown Decision's Legacy Should Include White Children

Everyone knows that the court in Brown declared racially segregated education unconstitutional. But the court also squarely identified segregation as an insidious form of racial subordination. The high court's decision identified education as perhaps the most important function of state government and powerfully affirmed the right of black children to the dignity inherent in full citizenship.

A State Bucks the Trend on Voting Rights

A Mix of Hope, Skepticism Greets North Charleston’s Bid for Police Reform

...Monique Dixon, [LDF's] deputy policy director in Washington, said she and other advocates view North Charleston’s move as a direct result of that persistent call. She welcomed it. But in effect, the city will be getting softer scrutiny than it would face in a civil rights probe, she said.

Task Force Pushes for More Police Body Cameras in Chicago

For their part, civil rights advocates are cautiously optimistic about the report. Kevin Keenan, chief operating officer and legal counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told StateScoop that he was glad to see the task force recognized the “broad consensus that body worn cameras are an important tool of accountability” but he plans to closely monitor how the city uses the technology going forward.

Angel Harris, Assistant Counsel for The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, joined us to share a statement on the One-Year Anniversary of Freddie Gray's Death and help us understand what happened.

Letter: NCPD needs thorough review

...And while police traffic stops in North Charleston have decreased, racial disparities persist, with African Americans being stopped at higher rates than white residents. A comprehensive federal investigation of policing practices would reveal and address the reasons for these disparities.

While many are rightly claiming victory for Monday’s decision upholding the bedrock principle of one person, one vote established more than half a century ago, some have grown weary of having to defend against baseless challenges to longstanding legal principles and view the unanimous affirmation in Evenwel v. Abbott more as simple and sweet vindication.

Editorial A Texas Man is Due to Die Because He's Black

The state of Texas agrees that unconstitutional testimony was introduced at the trial, but has argued that the testimony and the caliber of Buck's legal counsel don't constitute the kind of “extraordinary circumstances” under which Buck would be allowed to proceed.

'One person, one vote' unanimously upheld

Why Monday’s Supreme Court Decision on Redistricting Is Important

As the composition of the Supreme Court remains in flux following the death of one of its most outspoken justices and as the executive and legislative branches continue to battle over the timing of his replacement, the eight-member Court spoke in one voice today to affirm a bedrock democratic principle.

Race and the Death Penalty in Texas

This month, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the appeal of Duane Buck, a black man from Texas who was sentenced to die for the 1995 murder of his ex­girlfriend and a man who was with her. There is no dispute about his guilt; the issue is how he ended up on death row.

Merrick Garland, Obama's High Court Pick, Gives GOP a Headache

As Ifill observes in the CNN article: Indeed, a majority of Americans want the Senate to give the President's nominee a hearing, and despite their bluster, Republicans may find themselves out-maneuvered by President Obama's exceedingly moderate choice.

Hillary Clinton to Speak at BET's Leading Women Defined Summit

Tonight (March 1), Clinton will address the Leading Women Defined Summit (LWD), presented by COVERGIRL. The vision of BET Networks chairman and CEO Debra Lee, the seventh annual summit will bring together the nation’s most prominent African-American women during Women’s History Month to help set a national agenda and actionable solutions surrounding prominent issues impacting the Black community.

No indictment issued in Sandra Bland case

In her Dec. 11 opinion for Hamilton and Griffin on Rights, Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), asks and answers what is this country’s theory of democracy?

What's different about the latest challenge to Affirmative Action?

Should race be a consideration in college admissions? For the second time in three years, the Supreme Court justices are considering the constitutionality of that question. Gwen Ifill examines the opposing viewpoints with Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation and Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“Extremely inappropriate”: The Supreme Court and the sneaky plot to kill affirmative action

Holding that diversity can be a compelling interest that a university can [constitutionally] pursue. That was very encouraging, and we thought that as far as this case went that would be the end of the road. The fact that it’s been taken up again is certainly alarming. It definitely indicates that [some on the Court believe] its work was not done first time around.

President Obama Signs Into Law a Rewrite of No Child Left Behind

Supreme Court Weighs Turning Back Clock On Redistricting

A case before the Supreme Court this week has the potential to change equal access to political representation as we have known it for at least the last 50 years. In Evenwel v. Abbott, a case arising out of Texas, the court may decide whether apportioning legislative districts, from which state legislators are elected, based on total population satisfies the Constitution’s one person, one vote principle. History, practical realities and fairness reflect that it does.

It's often said that compromise gives something to everyone but leaves nobody happy. Case in point is the bipartisan effort to replace "No Child Left Behind" with a new, federal education reform called, "Every Child Succeeds." We hear where and how Republicans and Democrats agree to disagree.

Later on the program the despair and outrage of migrants trapped at the border between Greece and Macedonia now that Europe has changed the rules about who's allowed in and who's not.

S. Carolina case lesson: Police shouldn't be doing school discipline

The Philadelphia Tribunecites the high cost of implementing strict photo voter ID and fighting litigation brought under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in "Voter ID foes stress legal cost in new tactic." LDF's own

As part of the ACSblog's 2015 Constitution Day Symposium, Victorien Wu wrote a blog post regarding LDF's efforts to vindicate the fundamental right to vote of Black voters in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.

Symposium: Diversity matters for all

The Atlanta Journal Constitution profiles "What's at Stake in Fayette Voting Rights Fight." In the piece, the AJC looks ahead to the week of November 16 when "U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr. will revisit a case looking at how Fayette County elects its leaders. He’ll hear arguments for and against at-large voting. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of 10 black Fayette residents, says district voting would be a better way to elect representatives. They say at-large elections dilute minority voting strength.

2015 National Fair Housing Conference, Residential Segregation

Housing policy experts talked about residential segregation and diversity in U.S. cities.

“The Problem We All Live With: Residential Segregation” was part of “A Call to Advance Housing Rights and Opportunities,” the 2015 National Fair Housing Training and Policy Conference, held at HUD’s national headquarters.

In Louisiana parish, a fight for black voting rights

In Louisiana parish, a fight for black voting rights, MSNBC reports that Terrebonne Parish has never elected a black judge, even though one in five parish residents is African-American, and that the Parish re-elected a white parish judge who had been suspended for wearing black-face as part of a racist parody Halloween costume.

JOINT STATEMENT ON CHARGES ISSUED BY ST. LOUIS COUNTY AGAINST PROTESTERS ARRESTED LAST YEAR

St. Louis County is marking the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown by charging hundreds of people arrested by the St. Louis County Police in protest actions that occurred since August of 2014. The State Prosecuting Attorney has refused to pursue these charges. The City of Ferguson, where most incidents occurred, has not pursued charges.

Police Repression and Police Reform

50 years on, does the Voting Rights Act offer adequate protection?

Fifty years ago, the Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory practices used to stop Americans from casting a ballot. President Obama marked the occasion with civil rights leaders, cautioning that those rights are still at risk. Gwen Ifill talks to Imani Clark, a student at Prairie View A&M University, voting rights scholar Kareem Crayton and Zoltan Hajnal of University of California, San Diego.

Steps Congress must take to ensure true freedom

Sleepy county's history of discrimination

It's a process that has become all too familiar for civil rights lawyers this past year -- sitting at a computer poring over yet another video showing a state official killing or injuring another unarmed Black person. But hearing of the death of Sandra Bland in a Waller County, Texas, jail was especially challenging for me.

Ohio police officer charged with murder

Univ. of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing has been charged with the murder of Samuel Dubose following a traffic stop. Lawrence is joined by the [NAACP Legal Defense Fund's President and Director-Counsel] Sherrilyn Ifill, fmr. NYPD Officer Eugene O'Donnell, and the Cincinnati Enquirer's Byron McCauley.

Op-Ed: Charleston Massacre is Pivotal Point for Profession

Fayette Residents Continue Fight Against At-Large Voting

“The decision by Fayette County is really is a step backwards and is an affront to progress that has been made in Fayette County,” said Leah Aden, assistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and an attorney for the residents.

Decision anxiously awaited in Supreme Court housing case

Janai Nelson, LDF Associate Director-Counsel, discusses the Confederate flag issue as it relates to the conversation surrounding the Emanuel A.M.E church shootings on KCRW.com, "To The Point" radio talk show.

Emanuel AME: ‘we need to be in solidarity’

South Carolina responds to the Charleston Massacre with a powerful memorial and Gov. Nikki Haley calls for state lawmakers to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds. Eugene Robinson, Mark Thompson, Janai Nelson, and Guy-Uriel Charles join Lawrence.

The Supreme Court should learn from a pool party in Texas

For four decades, this interpretation of the law — known in legal circles as “disparate impact” — has been used to punish banks for steering toxic loans to blacks and Latinos, and mortgage companies for charging higher fees. In 2011, the Justice Department relied on it to negotiate a $335 million settlement with Countywide Financial for charging higher rates to black and Latino borrowers who had the same credit risk as whites.

Charleston: Warning signs in atmosphere of hate

NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s [President and Director-Counsel] Sherrilyn Ifill and former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole on warning signs of violence and creating a climate that encourages people to speak up about possible danger.

Hundreds protest police reaction to Texas pool party

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, discusses the reactions in McKinney, Tx. after a video showing a white police officer wrestling a black teenage girl at a pool party to the ground was posted online.

Can Federal Education Law be Used to Curb Harsh School Discipline?

“Public school discipline practices are pushing children out of school,” said Janel George, senior education policy counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which co-sponsored the event. “You cannot learn and you cannot achieve if you’re not in a classroom.”

“The choice of location was really apt,” said Natasha Korgaonkar, [Assistant Counsel] at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who is involved in the lawsuit against Texas' voter ID law. “It’s really important that issues of voting rights and expanding the right to vote as well as blocking restrictive voter laws are part of the national dialogue.”

Legal Defense Fund Boosts Grants in Law Student Scholarship Program

"The boost in dollar amount represents “a big leap forward,” said Joon Bang, [LDF] manager for programs. “We recognize that education costs are rising, and we want to make sure our scholars are on the path to pursue racial justice. We want to support the next generation of civil rights leaders.”

What Obama's New Military-Equipment Rules Mean for K-12 School Police

"I definitely think it's a step in the right direction," Janel George, senior education policy council at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund tells Rolling Stone. "It does show that the administration, particularly the local law enforcement equipment working group, heard our concerns."

Back to the Future of Marriage Equality

It was a familiar scene at the U.S. Supreme Court: states argued that allowing certain couples to marry would impose long-term harms upon children, families and social institutions. They contended that it is not the judiciary’s place to scrutinize restrictions upon the freedom to marry. And they fell back upon the claim that the definition of marriage is a longstanding tradition.

As we approach the 61st Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which invalidated racial apartheid in our nation's public schools, Sherrilyn Ifill urges Congress to preserve the federal role of holding states accountable for promoting equal access to educational opportunity in Education Week op-ed.

Baltimore and US history of housing segregation

"More than 100 years of housing policy -- from segregation laws to restrictive covenants to urban renewal to the subprime mortgage crisis -- have created a Baltimore that is segregated and deeply unequal to this day. MHP and her guests [including Janai Nelson] discuss."

Experts advance solutions for healing relationships between law enforcement and communities of color at America Healing Conference

"There are many ways to approach this. We must take this opportunity and not squander it. We need to be asking ourselves- How can we transform law enforcement, how can we elevate expectations of those charged to serve and protect equally?"

Monique Dixon, senior policy counsel for criminal justice at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), said that arrests during the Baltimore protests became particularly aggressive after the city implemented a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew May 1 and police officers reduced the buffer time allowed for citizens to return home.

Honor Selma by Restoring the Voting Rights Act

"Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, was simply wrong when he recently suggested the Voting Rights Act should not be updated because “more minorities are already voting.” His statement asserts a novel and misguided test for determining the necessity of the Voting Rights Act. It also ignores the abundant evidence of ongoing racial discrimination in voting that makes congressional action to restore the Voting Rights Act essential."

Searching for solutions in Baltimore

Obama’s Difficult Legacy on Race

“There is more that the administration can be doing to ensure proper training, supervision, and transparency at the local level through the funding structure and civil rights compliance structure that is already in place,” said Leslie Proll, Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Washington office.

Marrying Dignity and Equal Protection

"Yesterday, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether states can exclude gays and lesbians from the benefits of marriage, the crisis in Baltimore flooded the airwaves and brought renewed attention to long-simmering issues of racial justice. While the two issues might seem worlds apart, the often-overlooked truth is that both come down to the fundamental question of whether we as a nation take seriously the responsibility to confer equal dignity upon every citizen."

5th Circuit Hears Texas Voter ID Law Dispute

Natasha Korgaonkar, Assistant Counsel for the NAACP, said in an interview following the hearing that while Texas calls its state-issued voter registration cards "free," actually they are not free at all. She said that in order to get the cards voters must first have certain identification, such as a birth certificate, and that plaintiffs have had to pay up to $40 to obtain the document.

The Legacy of Eric Holder

Today was the last day in office for one of the most consequential attorneys general in American history. Holder is the fourth-longest serving attorney general ever. Rev. Sharpton talks to Sherrilyn Ifill and Ari Melber about his legacy.

Baltimore Officials on Post-Ferguson Panel, now in Spotlight

"There's universal agreement that Ferguson represented the nadir of appropriate communication and transparency," said Sherrilyn Ifill, {President and Director-Counsel] of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a University of Maryland law professor on leave.

Judicial Vacancies in Alabama Pile Up

“Just because you have a number of vacancies at once doesn’t mean you automatically do a deal,” said Leslie Proll, [LDF Director of the Washington, D.C. Office]. “There is no question that President Obama should be nominating an African American to the 11th Circuit, yesterday.”

How and Why You Should Record the Police

Broadly speaking, it is always legal to record the police in public places or when they are on-duty, so long as the witness does not interfere with police proceedings. And the proliferation of smart phones and social media has made citizen monitoring of police activity easy: people carry high-quality photo and video technology in their pockets, and can share their records almost instantaneously.

Opinion: Fayette at-large voting discriminates

The Truth About Black Twitter

"Black Twitter is a force. It’s also not particularly well understood by those who aren’t a part of it. The term is used to describe a large network of black Twitter users and their loosely coordinated interactions, many of which accumulate into trending topics due to the network’s size, interconnectedness, and unique activity."

Change is coming to Ferguson

"Change is coming to Ferguson. In the next few weeks the Department of Justice (DOJ) will begin to negotiate in earnest with the city to restructure the police department, which the department has charged with engaging in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination."

Demonstrations Held in Response to South Carolina Shooting

Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund discusses the video that captured the shooting death of an unarmed black man in South Carolina, and whether the officer who fired the gun would have been charged if the video hadn’t surfaced.

"Janel George, [Senior Education Policy Counsel] for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., spoke about how school discipline practices for African–American children mirror the disparity in punishment that the black community receives from the police and courts."

Schnapper-Casteras: Let Loving Lead the Way

"Four states recently filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Constitution allows them to ban same-sex marriage. In grappling with this important issue, the court should be guided by how it previously decided the question of whether states could ban interracial marriage. In Loving v. Virginia, the justices unanimously agreed that such bans violated the essential freedom to marry; that principle should govern the outcome here too."

Supreme Court Rejects Alabama case

John Paul Schnapper-Casteras, [Special Counsel for Appellate and Supreme Court Advocacy] for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, praised the decision saying it provides "an opportunity for black voters to go back before a trial court to carefully examine how Alabama used race to limit black electoral strength."

A Test of Free Speech and Bias, Served on a Plate From Texas

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the Confederate flag has only one fundamental meaning. “It’s a powerful symbol of the oppression of black people,” she said in an interview.

NC senators reject effort to get them to support Lynch for AG

Speaking in the same call with Butterfield, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said Lynch’s nomination should be beyond politics.“When women all over the country see the right person for the right job at the right time, flawlessly performed, is still unable to get the job, it sends a very toxic message,” she said.

The remarks from black legislators came during a conference call with several African-American leaders, including Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Paulette Walker, national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Lynch is a member of that organization.

Janel George, a lead lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, also shared this sentiment, calling suspension a “school pushout” that undermines kids and prevents them from learning, reports Patrick O’Donnell at Cleveland.com.

“Our nation cannot close the achievement gap if we ignore the discipline gap,” George said.

Threats to Voting Rights Remain, Selma Gathering Is Told

Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., urged listeners to call their representatives in Congress. “Tell them you demand a hearing on an amendment to the Voting Rights Act,” she said.

Obama Evokes The 'Eternal Struggle' In Selma

Today in Selma, Ala., thousands are expected to participate in the symbolic crossing of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, it's part of a weekend of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when state troopers attacked civil rights marchers. Yesterday, President Obama joined others in his own commemorative walk across the bridge. In his remarks, he pointed to Selma as a touchstone for racial progress today.

Justice Department Taskforce Recommends Criminal Justice Reforms

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, says it often seems like police departments are at war with communities. She welcomes the reforms being recommended by the DOJ.

The International Business Times quotes LDF Director of the Washington D.C. Office Leslie Proll in an article highlighting singer John Legend's Oscar accepttance speech addressing voting rights during the Academy Awards ceremony on February 22, 2015:

Fair opportunity eludes black voters

"Because at-large voting erects a barrier to black voters' electoral opportunities, plaintiffs to the lawsuit seek a remedial district in which black voters are the majority of the voters in one of the five districts, which will elect one of the five judges for the 32nd JDC.

Loretta Lynch Embraces Eric Holder's Legacy on Civil Rights

President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department appeared poised for Senate confirmation after two days of hearings in which Loretta Lynch earned the confidence of top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee – sometimes by distancing herself from outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.

But, to the relief of civil rights advocates, Lynch also pointed to areas of Holder's legacy – particularly involving race – that she plans to continue.

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill joined MSNBC's The Reid Report today with host Joy-Ann Reid to discuss Loretta Lynch's Senate confirmation hearings. Up for discussion were Loretta Lynch's stance on voter ID laws, waterboarding and the current state of law enforcement.

Ryan Haygood was the keynote speaker at the Alliance San Diego's All Peoples Celebration, “I Am a Human, I Am the Dream" event, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

LDF Senior Counsel Vincent Southerland speaks with St. Louis Public Radio about the LDF letter to Judge Maura McShane. The letter requested an appropriate and thorough investigation of the grand jury proceedings of former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson.

In a blog post for the Alliance for Justice web site, LDF Director of the Washington, D.C. Office Leslie Proll gives historical context to the Fair Housing Act and presses its continued importance on a day the U. S. Supreme Court hears argument in a case that could jeopardize its ability to stem bias in housing:

The Supreme Court will hear Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. on January 21, 2015. This case puts landmark civil rights law in jeopardy, as the case considers whether to overturn foundational fair housing protections. LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill has written an op-ed on the issue, which is featured in McClatchy DC today.

In the New York Daily News, LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill comments on the preliminary settlement in which the New York Police Department agrees "to reform police training and guidelines for encounters with residents and visitors in public housing:"

Although no one was injured and no property was damaged, Kiera was arrested, charged with two felonies, suspended from school for 10 days, and sent to an alternative school. Public outcry resulted in the dropping of the felony charges and Kiera graduated from high school, but her family accumulated significant legal fees and it may take years to remove the felony arrest from her records.

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill and Civil Rights leader Julian Bond discuss social activism and the Civil Rights movement across the decades on The Reid Report: Generation to Generation.

Sherrilyn Ifill joins a panel on the Diane Rehm Show to discuss the tragic slaying of NYC Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu and the current debate over policing, the criminal justice system and racial fairness:

In a USA Today column, LDF Interim Director of the Education Practice Leticia Smith-Evans and Russell Skiba argue school disicpline should be included in the topical discussion of racial bias and stereotypes in schools:

LDF Associate Director-Counsel Janai Nelson highlights the fine line Obama must walk in order to be the President for all Americans while making his mark on race relations in the aftermath of Brown and Garner deaths:

LDF Director of Litigation Christina Swarns and chief legal officer of the City of New York Zachary Carter discuss the next steps on the road to justice for Eric Garner’s family on Andrea Mitchell Reports

The New York Times is monitoring reactions and events as they unfold in the aftermath of the grand jury decision to not indict Staten Island police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of Eric Garner.

After deciding a trip to Ferguson, Missouri would be too disruptive, President Obama instead meets with civil rights leaders, including LDF President and Director Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill, and young organizers at the White House to discuss ways of rebuilding trust and improving relations between law enforcement and communities of color.

Sherrilyn Ifill on Meet The Press, hosted by Chuck Todd, talked about race in America after a flawed grand jury process in Ferguson, Missouri failed to return an indictment for Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown.

Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF President and Director-Counsel, joins a panel on The Diane Rehms Show and discusses how not only content but presentation could have influenced the Ferguson grand jury to not indict police office Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Black teenager Michael Brown.

In the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Black teenager Michael Brown, LDF Senior Counsel Vincent Southerland puts police violence in historical context and offers ways to break free from its persistence in law enforcement in an op-ed penned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Out of the Ferguson crisis, US News and World Report list, "5 Things Civil Rights Groups Want From Ferguson," a number of issues which civil rights organizations hope to focus debate as events unfold in Ferguson and reverberate throughout the country.

Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel at LDF, pens an analysis of two consolidated Alabama election law cases before the Supreme Court, and their potential impact on election laws across the nation.

In the wake of the mid-term elections, Leslie Proll, LDF Director of the Washington, D.C. office, implores the returning Senate to make top priority the over 34 judicial nominations awaiting confirmation in an op-ed posted in The Root.

Senate GOP Now Has a Majority. It Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of Judicial Diversity

NPR Presents: Voting Rights Or Wrongs?

North Carolina's new voting law has been a hot topic of discussion—and litigation—this election year.

The law reduced the number of early voting days, eliminated same-day registration during early voting, and did away with the counting of out-of-precinct ballots. In 2016, voter ID is scheduled to take effect.

Watch Natasha Korgaonkar discuss the Supreme Court's disappointing decision to allow an intentionally discriminatory Voter ID law to stay in place for the upcoming election. The good news is that the substance of our district court win has been left untouched. This is not the end -- we will keep fighting against voter discrimination!

Court rulings in Texas and Wisconsin are giving opponents of strict voter ID laws a chance to celebrate. Joy Reid looks at the impact of recent voter ID decisions around the country with Ryan P. Haygood.

In the Washington Post's article "School police across the country receive excess military weapons and gear" Janel George explains “This isn’t just about the weapons, it’s also about inserting these weapons in school climates that are already fraught with tension and hostility between students of color and school police. It’s about inserting that and exacerbating those tensions.”

Attorney General Eric Holder announced recently that the Department of Justice would be investigating the entire Ferguson police department for civil rights violations. LDF's Janai Nelson discussed this investigation on the Melissa Harris-Perry show along with Marquez Claxton, Rev. Paul Raushenbush, and Phillip Atiba Goff.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is alleging that at least 282 ballots in the state's June 3 primary election were not counted due to Alabama's law requiring voters to show a valid photo identification card.

Michael Brown was beating the odds. He made it through the minefield that can be the public education system in America; he graduated from Normandy High; he had no criminal record; and he was poised to enter technical school to learn a trade. So why was he buried last week after dying at the hands of law enforcement?

On Andrea Mitchell Reports, Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Urban League's Marc Morial talked with Chris Matthews (who filled in for Andrea Mitchell) about the makeup of the grand jury and the partiality of head prosecutor in the trial of the police officer who killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

A group of alumni of eight prestigious public high schools in New York City issued a statement on Tuesday in support of keeping a test as the sole criterion for entry, inserting themselves in a long-running debate over the admissions process and its impact on the schools’ racial makeup.

Choosing Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director–Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., to address the large luncheon crowd at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference last Thursday was a no-brainer.

"What, since Sunday, has been done to give the community confidence that justice will be done?" Ifill asked on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd" the morning of August 18th.

"The unrest you see here is the frustration in the absence of leadership, the absence of accountability," Ifill said. "Those leaders need to come forward, stand before the people who elected them, and be accountable: explain what they expect to happen, explain the timetable, explain what their intentions are."

Last night on MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Sherrilyn Ifill lambasted Missouri officials for their silence, absence, and lack of political leadership in Ferguson. Forty minutes later, Gov. Jay Nixon announced he would not go to the state fair and instead travel to Ferguson today.

The Right to Resist: How Will YOU Fight Police Brutality?

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one on the Supreme Court objected publicly when the justices voted to let Arizona proceed with the execution of Joseph Wood, who unsuccessfully sought information about the drugs that would be used to kill him.

Inmates in Florida and Missouri went to their deaths by lethal injection in the preceding weeks after the high court refused to block their executions. Again, no justice said the executions should be stopped.

After Daniel Pantaleo -- an NYPD officer sworn to serve and protect New Yorkers -- was filmed using a chokehold on Staten Island resident Eric Garner, who later died, new video surfaces of a separate violent arrest in Harlem.

On MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell Sherrilyn Ifill discusses NYC's long history of police brutality and the lack of accountability for the police's excessive use of force against New York's communities of color.

How Detroit Is Making Water A Racial Hot Button

Detroit is in the middle of a water crisis that has captured the nation’s attention. Thousands of Detroit residents may have their water turned off over past due balances. Veronica Joice along with Demeeko Williams and Cirtrose Garmer debated this highly contested topic on “NewsOne Now.” Listen to their entire conversation below.

State legislatures in the past few years have made more than 250 attempts to pass laws to roll back voting rights and 22 states have approved such laws, NAACP panelists said Tuesday, accusing Republicans of trying to quash the growing minority vote.

Staten Island resident, Eric Garner, died Thursday after a NYPD officer subdued him with a chokehold. Cell phone footage captured at the scene of the tragic event shows Garner screaming that he could not breathe after the move, banned by NYPD, was applied.

Race and Voting Rights

In Reuters "The Great Debate," Janai Nelson, LDF's Associate Director-Counsel, argues "swift and dauntless action is needed in both houses of Congress, however, to ensure that voting remains an equal opportunity exercise for all Americans, and that Congress remains a relevant force in the defense of voting rights in places like Mississippi, Texas, Georgia and beyond." She powerfully calls for the passage of the

In a special edition of the Kentucky Courier-Journal, Jin Hee Lee writes on the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act that "The legacy of the Civil Rights Act and the civil rights movement, rests with all of us to ensure that the struggle for freedom and equality lives on.

Amid outrage over the stabbing of two children in a public-housing elevator, Jin Hee Lee calls for solutions that go beyond increased policing or even surveillance cameras to include partnering with NYCHA residents themselves.

Education Week's latest issue commemorates the 60th anniversary of the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In the issue, Leticia Smith-Evans argues in "K-12 Education: Still Separate, Still Unequal" that Brown's mandate of ending legal apartheid is still an ideal as racial segregation in public schools persists.

In a piece for the American Constitution Society's blog, Vincent Southerland argues that "criminal justice reforms need to be driven by the moral imperative of repairing all that is wrong with the current system."

In The Houston Chronicle, Sherrilyn Ifill argues that the Supreme Court's recent ruling in McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission, in which the Court gives even greater influence to wealthy donors in elections, cheapens the act of voting. She cites the opening sentence of Chief Justice Roberts' majority opinion in which he writes:

Recently, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that businesses and other organizations can continue to consider credit scores in employment. As Johnathan Smith explains in an interview to Inside Counsel, this practice discriminates against job-seekers of color who are more likely than whites to face hardships, like student debt or medical loans, that lead to poor credit scores.

As the nation commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Sherrilyn Ifill talks to Andrea Mitchell on the importance of civil rights, which is the real democracy-maintenance work. She also discusses the urgent necessity of the Voting Rights Amendment Act.

Learn more about the proposed Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (VRAA).

On Joy Reid's MSNBC show, Sherrilyn Ifill talks about the myth of voter fraud and the devastating effects of voter suppression on people of color throughout the country, especially in the south. Voter fraud is a phantom epidemic -- there is no real evidence of this fraud to justify the wave of voter suppression. Studies have demonstrated that a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to witness in-person voter fraud.

Yesterday, on Warren Olney's public radio program "To The Point", Vincent Southerland talked about the devastating effects of mass incarceration on African-American communities, families, and lives. He highlighted recent efforts by President Obama and Attorney General Holder, as well as conservatives like Senator Rand Paul, to end our decades-long addiction to mass incarceration. But, as Vincent argued, we should do so for moral and ethical reasons, not just budgetary concerns.

LDF recently sent a letter to local officials in Cuyahoga County, Ohio urging them to implement a temporary moratorium on tax lien sales until after an investigation can be done and reforms made to the system.

On Tuesday, Monique Lin-Luse, Special Counsel in the Education Group talked with NY1 about the dismal admissions figures released from New York City's Specialized High Schools. The statistics -- 7 black students admitted to Stuyvesant and 18 Black students accepted to Bronx Science -- show that acute racial disparities in admissions have persisted. Nonetheless, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is pleased that Mayor de Blasio has acknowledged this problem and that Assemblyman Karim Camara is pushing forward legislation to change admissions policies at the high schools.

In the wake of the disappointing verdict in the Michael Dunn trial, Sherrilyn Ifill and Philip Goff, argue that "[w]ithout an honest effort to engage the realities of race and perception, we will continue to see sanitized prosecutions in cases involving shootings laden with racial implications.

This week, Ria Tabacco Martestified at a public hearing before the DC Council's Committee on Economic Development, urging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to adopt fairer hiring practices.

Johnathan Smith delivered a keynote address at a church service held at St. William's Chapel to honor Black History Month and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The event was sponsored by the Minority Health Initiative Council at the School of Nursing & Health Studies.

Brentin Mock writes for Demos about our case in Terrebonne Parish challenging the discriminatory at-large system of voting. He highlights the state's long history of voter discrimination and argues that "vestiges of that Louisiana-styled white supremacy can be found today in Terrebonne Parish (county), where African Americans have been unable to serve as judges in their district’s court system since it was founded in 1822."

Leah Aden writes a blog post for the American Constitution Society in which she describes, in detail, LDF's challenge to Terrebonne Parish's discriminatory at-large system of voting. Aden explains that without this litigation, plaintiffs and other Black voters in Terrebonne wouldn't have recourse to change their treatment as second-class citizens.

In a conversation with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Alliance for Justice president Nan Aron, and retired federal judge Nancy Gertner about professional diversity on federal courts, Sherrilyn Ifill highlighted the importance of racial diversity in particular.

Josh Civin, Counsel to the Director of Litigation, recently presented oral argument to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fisher vs. University of Texas on remand. In this article, he talks about barriers to educational opportunities for students of color and the importance of college diversity.

In Rolling Stone, Leticia Smith-Evans, Interim Director of the Education Practice at LDF, is featured in "Can We Fix the Race Problem in America's School Discipline?" in which she talks about the DOJ and DOE's recently issued guidance on school discipline:

NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy is hosting a debate on the role that segregation in neighborhoods and schools plays in hindering economic and racial equality. The latest installment of The Dream Revisited series asks "Why Integration?" Sherrilyn Ifill responds that we must "Focus on the Costs of Segregation for All."

On Monday, Monique Lin-Luse, Special Counsel to the Education Group at LDF, spoke at the annual MLK-day memorial luncheon hosted by the Salt Lake City branch of the NAACP. She spoke about the school-to-prison pipeline and barriers to educational equality.

Amid nationwide agitation to increase federal and state minimum wages and successful efforts to "ban the box" that requires job applicants to describe their criminal history, Johnathan Smith, Assistant Counsel of the Economic Justice Practice, and Madeline Neighly of National Employment Law Project pen an op-ed for msnbc.com.

LDF is honored to work towards Dr. King's dream of racial equality. As we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, take a look at an op-ed Sherrilyn Ifill penned earlier this year commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

Why we still march

50 years after the seminal event of the civil rights era, the work is still unfinished

The Education and Justice Departments released new guidelines on school discipline yesterday urging schools to ensure that punishments comply with civil rights laws. Sherrilyn Ifill talks with PBS' Hari Sreenivasan and Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

On Andrea Mitchell yesterday, Sherrilyn Ifill spoke about widespread efforts to repress minority voting rights around the country, especially the impact these restrictings are having at the local level.

Sherrilyn Ifill writes in The Root today that pop culture and social media scandals like Paula Deen and Duck Dynasty distract us from meaningful civil rights and social justice challenges that should command our full attention.

LDF is delighted that President Obama has nominated Sharon Y. Bowen to be the next Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This appointment is a welcome addition to the President's recent appointment of women and African Americans to key positions in the financial regulatory regime. If confirmed, Ms.

KUHF, an NPR affiliate radio station in Houston, Texas, reported on the federal investigation into the Bryan Independent School District's policy of citing criminal misdemeanors for normative childlike behavior.

Excerpt from the show's transcript:

When De’angelo Rollins started sixth grade here at Stephen F. Austin, he was excited. It’s a middle school in Bryan about an hour and half hour northwest of Houston.

District prosecutors ran criminal background checks on several potential jurors in a high-profile gang case, raising serious concerns from a judge who questioned why most people they selected were African American....Vincent M. Southerland, senior counsel with the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, called what prosecutors did in the case “troubling.”

In today's National Law Journal, Sherrilyn Ifill, along with Stephen Bright, president and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights and Virginia Sloan, president of The Constitution Project, jointly pen an op-ed on the shortage of indigent defense representation.

Judge Shira Scheindlin was asked by the Bloomberg administration to 'recuse herself' from a class-action suit involving NYPD stops for trespassing in city housing projects. In a prior class-action suit on an NYPD practice, Scheindlin found aspects of stop-and-frisk were unconstitutional — but was later booted off the case.

...Johanna Steinberg, senior counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the city’s call for the judge’s recusal was “premature and unwarranted.”

The New York Times reported today on LDF's arguments in the Fisher vs. University of Texas case on remand to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals following the Supreme Court’s decision this past June in which it declined to end the University’s race-conscious admissions plan and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. Josh Civin, Counsel to the Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Veronica Joice wrote a critical and timely op-ed exposing the failure of local governments to address the needs of individuals and families with no real safety net -- low-income renters. The shortfalls she identifies emphasize the need for LDF and other stakeholders to hold federal and local governments accountable for the billions of dollars that have been earmarked for recovery to ensure that all households are able to rebound from the storm.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitutional, Civil Rights, and Human Rights heard tesimony on "'Stand Your Ground'" Laws: Civil Rights and Public Safety Implications of the Expanded Use of Deadly Force."

Click the link to read the testimony that was presented to the subcommittee from LDF.

WASHINGTON – Just as a cloture petition was filed in the Senate for Congressman Mel Watt’s nomination to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), civil and human rights groups are calling for his swift confirmation.

Two national organizations have joined forces to help Black families in crisis after creditworthiness standards were abruptly changed for the Parent PLUS Loan program, which provides federal financial aid to college students.

The New York Times' Editorial Board writes a vigorous piece in today's paper that charges Prop 2 in Michigan as "impermissibly alter[ing] the political process that determines admissions policies in a way that places special burdens on racial minorities."

Matt Cregor, Assistant Counsel in LDF's Education Practice and an expert on the School-to-Prison pipeline, was quoted in a Huffington Post article on school policing. He forcefully argues against the practice of increasing the number of School Resource Officers as a means of keeping schools safe. On the contrary, these SROs are instrumental in facilitating the school-to-prison pipeline in which youth, particularly students of color, are cited misdemeanors for minor misbehavior.

In the wake of the federal government shutdown, the Department of Justice has asked a court to press pause on all proceedings in United States, et al. v. Texas, et al., a challenge under the Voting Rights Act to Texas's discriminatory photo ID law, until the Department's funding is restored. LDF has joined the case on behalf of college students in Texas who lack the necessary limited forms of ID required by the photo ID law.

Another Blockbuster Season Ahead for the Supreme Court

The case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, involves a 2006 constitutional amendment approved by Michigan voters that bans affirmative action in the state. A closely-divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down the ban because, it held, affirmative action is a constitutional remedy and the ban disadvantages minorities seeking access to that remedy on account of their race in violation of equal protection.

The annual glut of appeals that accumulates throughout the summer must be whittled down by the justices' law clerks. Only the strongest cases survive.

Sherrilyn Ifill has served as president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund since January, and she says that while “the signs are all around me that I’m new”—including bare walls in her offices in New York and Washington—she feels “quite settled in.” This may be partly due to her familiarity with the organization: Ifill worked as an assistant counsel at LDF early in her career.

On Tavis Smiley's show AYG radio, Sherrilyn Ifilldiscusses the current civil rights movement; how the dis-empowered can be agents of change; and how the current generation of civil rights activists can organize and mobilize.

Black workers embody the new low-wage economy

Rachel Kleinman, Assistant Counsel in LDF's Education Group writes an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle this weekend censuring the improper over-reliance on law-enforcement in schools. This practice removes students from supportive educational environments, reinforces stereotypes, and sets our children on a path out of schools and into the criminal justice system.

Natasha M. Korgaonkar, assistant counsel in the Political Participation Group, writes in today's US News & World Report that "Texas' Voter ID Laws Are Plain and Simple Discrimination." Along with two democratic representatives from Texas, she argues that the Justice Department is absolutely correct to sue Texas over its blatantly discriminatory Voter ID laws.

LDF alumnus and retired Chief Judge U.W. Clemon of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama received the 2013 John H. Pickering Award of Achievement at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting earlier this month. The award was given by the ABA Senior Lawyers Division.

Along with Attorney General Eric Holder, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders, Sherrilyn Ifill spoke to tens of thousands of Americans at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. The marchers stretched from the Lincoln Memorial down the length of the Mall's reflecting pool and beyond. Although we marched for myriad reasons -- to honor our history, to call for more jobs and a living wage, to end mass incarceration and racial profiling -- the March was first and foremost a call to action.

Harry Belafonte, a renowned activist and musician, released a statement on his Facebook page calling for a new, fair sentencing hearing for LDF's client, Duane Buck. Mr. Buck was sentenced to death by a jury that was told that he was more likely to be dangerous because he is Black."

A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America by Evan J. Mandery highlights LDF's role in the movement to end the death penalty. Mandery describes LDF as influential on "every major death penalty case in the United States" and "the leading voice in the abolition movement, dominating all others."

The New York Times highlighted the efforts of Communities United for Police Reform which recently achieved a major legal victory in the movement against Stop-and-Frisk tactics. LDF's representatives to CUPR are Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele and Marquis Jenkins.

“We’ve had a lot of people writing in about changes and that’s been a really great thing,” Natasha Korgaonkar, assistant counsel in NAACP LDF’s Political Participation Group, told POLITICO. “We’re also keeping our eyes and ears out. Some of the smallest changes that are harder to ascertain from afar are some of the most devastating, or can be, like polling place changes.”

Sherrilyn Ifill appeared on Hardball with Gov. Pataki. They discussed A.G. Holder's speech on sentencing reform, as well as the landmark Stop-and-Frisk ruling which declared the NYPD's tactics violate rights.

"The reality is that crime began to go down in New York in the 1990s, when David Dinkins was mayor, before we implemented Stop-and-Frisk. And all over the country, crime has been going down. We're at these astonishingly low rates of crime and the question is, can we now begin to correct some of the excesses like Stop-and-Frisk?"

Southern states are moving quickly to change laws that will adversely affect minority voters.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and this country have lost one of our great civil rights lawyers and leaders. Julius Chambers, the third Director-Counsel of LDF and former Chair of its Board, died on Friday August 2nd in North Carolina after a long illness. He was 76 years old.

Jin Hee Lee, Senior Counsel in LDF's Criminal Justice Project, writes in a blog for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty about how the Trayvon Martin tragedy is related to the racial discrimination in our capital punishment system.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Ryan Haygood appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show to discuss the important effort by the Department of Justice to have Texas submit all proposed voting changes for review before they can take effect. Attorney General Holder’s announcement sends an important message in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision that took the country’s most effective tool against voter suppression out of commission.

The Director of the Political Participation Group at NAACP Legal Defense Fund Ryan Haygood joined the Melissa Harris Perry Show to discuss the serious threat to voting rights facing African Americans. LDF defended the Voting Rights Act before the U.S. Supreme Court, but last month they issued an outrageous ruling to take it out of commission. LDF is urging Congress to step in and asking the public to notify us of any discriminatory voting changes in their communities by emailing vote@naacpldf.org .

President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill appears on Hardball with Chris Matthews after President Obama’s surprise speech about race in America after the verdict. She discusses the difference between the communication style of Rachel’s Jeantel’s testimony and whether the jurors found her testimony to be compelling and credible, and that relates to the fateful night and Zimmerman’s inability to see Travvon Martin as a child.

Christina Swarns, Director of LDF's Criminal Justice Practice and Interim Director of Litigation, writes in the New York Times about why the pursuit of justice requires a federal investigation into the killing of Trayvon Martin. Recounting the history of federal intervention in cases where "innocent African-Americans were hunted, shot and killed because of their race, Ms. Swarns argues that the continued pervasiveness of racial bias in today's criminal justice system requires continued federal action.

Listen to LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill discuss the Zimmerman trial for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The conversation concerns racial profiling and the need for Americans to grapple seriously with issues of race.

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC to discuss the affects of racial profiling, the Stand your Ground Laws and the gratification that the Justice Department has decided to investigate whether or not to pursue a federal civil rights claim.

Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, tell MSNBC’s Craig Melvin why the NAACP is encouraging the Department of Justice to investigate whether George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin’s civil rights.

In an op-ed for Central New Jersey's largest publication, The Times of Trenton, LDF's Director of Economic Justice ReNika Moore discusses the importance of the disparate impact provision of the Fair Housing Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing next term in Township of Mount Holly, NJ v. Mount Holly Gardens Citizens in Action

ABC News takes a look at the percentage breakdown of the population in support of, and critical of, recent Supreme Court rulings on the Voting Right Act and in same-sex marriage. The research reveals continued idealogical differences among racial, gender, educational and generational lines.

LDF Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill was backstage at the Melissa Harris-Perry Show which was broadcast live from the Essence Festival in New Orleans this weekend. While waiting for her appearance on the show, Ifill was interviewed by Brentin Mock of Colorlines magazine on LDF's blueprint for protecting minority voting rights after the Supreme Court's decision in

Sherrilyn Ifill, President & Director Counsel of the NAACP LDF, appeared on Melissa Harris-Perry's show on MSNBC to discuss the current fight for voting rights, particularly following the Supreme Court ruling on the VRA in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder. Ifill, along with fellow panelists, Marc Morial, Rep.

LDF Assistant Counsel Rachel Kleinman spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Fisher v. UT Austin, which endorsed the benefits of student-body diversity in colleges and universities and allowed the continued use of race-conscious admissions policies.

Ryan Haygood, LDF Director of the Political Participation Group, talks with Tavis Smley about the implications of four recent Supreme Courts rulings regarding diversity in college admissions, The Voting Rights Act and same six marriage.

This week marks what would have been the 105th birthday of LDF founder Thurgood Marshall. He was LDF’s first President and Director-Counsel and led the organization through some of its most important seminal cases.

Note: Click here to review a running, and still growing, list of state, county, and local level responses to the decision, including jurisdictions’ intentions to implement new discriminatory voting changes in the wake of the decision.

Leah C. Aden, NAACP LDF Fried Frank Fellow in the Political Participation Group, shines light on the adverse impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, which struck at the very heart of the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.

In response to the Supreme Court's Tuesday decision striking a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill calls on American citizens and the congress to restore the “crown jewel” of the civil rights movement. Writing in Politico, Ms.

On June 20, 2013, Anderson Cooper 360 profiled the case of LDF client, Duane Buck, who was sentenced to death in Texas after his sentencing jury was told that he was more likely to be dangerous because he is Black.

Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Mount Holly v. Mount Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. We call on the Court to use this case as an opportunity to continue our nation’s progress to ensure that all families have a fair opportunity to find a good place to call home.

In Mount Holly,the Court will review a key provision of the Fair Housing Act, which is our nation’s key tool to eradicate housing discrimination and promote more inclusive neighborhoods. The Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968 as a testament to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in the wake of his tragic assassination. Since then, our nation has made progress toward eliminating racial segregation and discrimination in housing. Yet, as our recent economic crisis has starkly revealed, predatory lending and other discriminatory practices continue to deny housing opportunities to people of color and isolate minority communities. This case comes at a particularly critical time as African-American families struggle to overcome the devastating effects of the recession on homeownership and wealth.

Director of LDF's Economic Justice Group, ReNika Moore, appears on HuffPost Live with the EEOC's top lawyer and a community activist discussing how employer's use background checks can unfairly and unlawfully keep African American jobseekers out of work.

LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill published an Op-Ed in the New York Times, explaining why recent calls by some to focus on “solely class” and abandon race-conscious admissions policies fail to address the realities of how race continues to define opportunity.

As Ifill notes, the policies that give us the best chance to meet today’s challenges, as well as those of the future, embrace both race and class, along with a host of other factors. She writes,

LDF's Director of Economic Justice, ReNika Moore, praises two new lawsuits filed by the EEOC as an important step against workplace discrimination. "People who are trying to work, trying to be productive citizens, are being blocked from jobs" on the basis of old convictions when they pose no more danger than other applicant. As the EEOC contends employers must tailor their background check policies to ensure they are not unfairly excluding qualified African Americans workers.

Fifty years ago this week, Alabama Governor George Wallace defiantly stood in the schoolhouse door at the and refused to admit Vivian Malone and James Hood because of their race. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund (LDF) Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg and legendary LDF lawyer Constance Baker Motley represented the two young African American students and obtained a federal court order granting them admission to the University. Wallace fought their admission vigorously, and on the day of the students’ registration, set the stage for one of the most dramatic events in civil rights history.

Today, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. released a new video highlighting the racial discrimination in the Texas death penalty system and the shocking case of death-sentenced prisoner, Duane Buck. Mr. Buck was sentenced to death in Harris County (Houston), Texas, after his trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist indicating that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous because he is Black. The video was produced by award-winning documentary filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is pleased that President Obama has nominated three distinguished individuals to fill longstanding vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. LDF has repeatedly called upon President Obama and the Senate to expeditiously nominate and confirm judges who bring racial and professional diversity to the courts. With these nominations, President Obama has answered that call with nominees who bring both diversity and excellence to this important court. We look forward to their swift confirmation by the Senate

William T. Coleman Jr., former chairman of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s board of directors, was awarded the 2013 Harvard Medal from the Harvard Alumni Association for his extraordinary service to the University. The Harvard Medal marks yet another achievement in Bill Coleman’s remarkable career, which has been defined, in part, by groundbreaking accomplishments in the struggle for civil rights and his long-time, unyielding commitment to LDF and its mission.

On Friday, May 24, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona issued a sweeping injunction permanently preventing controversial Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, from using race or Latino ancestry as a basis for the exercise of such law enforcement discretion as stopping a car or determining whether a Latino occupant of a vehicle may be in the country without authorization. You can read more about it

On May 17, 1954, the United State Supreme Court decided a case that changed the course of American history. In Brown v. Board of Education, which was litigated by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a unanimous Court declared segregated education systems unconstitutional, marking the beginning of the end of America’s racial caste system.

Writing in The Root, Vincent Southerland, Senior Counsel in LDF's Criminal Justice Project, urges policy makers to use the opportunity presented by the US Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama to treat children convicted of crimes fairly. In Miller, the Court recognized what we all know and understand: Age matters.

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, Christina Swarns, Director of LDF's Criminal Justice Project, appeared on MSNBC's, "Up with Steve Kornacki" to discuss the death penalty, whether or not it is a deterrent, and the extent to which American views on capital punishment have shifted. In this context, Ms.

Company Agrees to Compensate Former Store Managers and Change Company Practices

On May 3, 2013, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed SB276 officially repealing the state’s death penalty. With this act, Maryland became the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty. In total, 18 states in the U.S., including Maryland, have abolished the death penalty.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) joined its co-counsel in signing an agreement with the Connecticut State Department of Education to further the implementation of desegregation remedies required by Sheff v. O’Neill, the landmark Connecticut Supreme Court case which required the State to end the racial and ethnic segregation faced by Hartford area schoolchildren.

LDF Co-Chair David Mills has fought to secure justice for people sentenced to life in prison for non-violent, non-serious crimes under California’s “Three Strikes” law. First through the work of the Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project, which he founded, Mills obtained representation for individuals challenging their life sentences. Then Mills led the successful effort to pass Proposition 36, the ballot initiative that eliminated future life sentences for non-violent, non-serious crimes, and gave individuals currently serving such sentences a path to release.

Author Gilbert King, Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction visited LDF's offices in New York, where he was congratulated by LDF's staff. King's book Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, recounts the story of an alleged rape in Lake County, Florida in 1949 and the effort by a vicious and racist sheriff to railroad four young black men. LDF Director-Counsel Thurgood Marshall worked tirelessly in defense of Walter Irvin, one of the young men who was brutally beaten and who faced the death penalty for the alleged rape. Despite the lack of evidence that a rape occurred, and strong evidence that Sheriff Willis McCall and his deputies viciously beat and framed the young men, Irvin was only saved from the Florida electric chair by a Governor's pardon after 3 long years of zealous defense by Marshall and the Legal Defense Fund. In the meantime, Harry Moore, a brilliant and respected NAACP leader in Brevard County, Florida and his wife were killed when a bomb planted under their house exploded on Christmas Eve in 1950. Moore's involvement in support of Marshall's defense of the "Groveland boys" is largely believed to be the motivation for local Ku Klux Klansmen.

The Editorial board of the New York Times today highlighted the unintended consequences of placing police officers in the nation’s schools, and warned school districts that are considering adding police on school campuses to think twice before doing so. The editorial mentions a federal civil rights complaint filed by LDF and the National Center for Youth Law on behalf of our clients Texas Appleseed and the Brazos County branch of the N.A.A.C.P.

Gilbert King's riveting account of Thurgood Marshall and other LDF attorneys efforts to obtain justice for four African Americans wrongly accused of rape in 1949 Florida was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. Th

For elections beginning in 2013 under South Carolina’s new law, the state is permitted to require registered voters to present certain Photo IDs for in-person voting by regular ballot. However, under this same law, voters may also vote in-person without one of the accepted Photo IDs by provisional ballot if they have a reason why they do not have an accepted Photo ID. To learn how you can prepare to vote in 2013 in South Carolina, click

"LDF fought for the passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Right Act, and while we as a society have achieved real progress for African Americans in the workplace, African Americans still face significant obstacles to equal employment opportunities--many of the obstacles are structural"

Pointing to a recent decision by U.S. District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, the New York Times published an editorial today calling for the City of New York to "ensure that police policies adhere to Fourth Amendment guarantees of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure" in public housing and not "belittle" the claims of LDF's clients.

The U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia is the second most important court in the country. It has special jurisdiction for reviewing the actions of federal agencies. Additionally, under the Voting Rights Act, one of its members is required to sit on three-judge panels that decide whether to preclear voting changes by jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination.

This morning, LDF Attorney Christina Swarns discussed the death penalty case of LDF client, Duane Buck, with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! You can watch Ms. Swarns explain how racial bias and stereotype -- including the trial prosecutor's reliance on evidence suggesting that Mr. Buck's race made him more likely to be a future danger -- render Mr.

Mr. Nabrit was a longtime lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund who argued for school integration at the Supreme Court. Read the New York Timesretrospective on the life of this civil rights icon.

Today, LDF's Washington Office Director, Leslie Proll, presented on a panel at the Third Annual Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon at the National Press Club. In its third year, the Luncheon focuses on racial justice issues and is sponsored by Trice Edney Communications. The panel featured women leaders from national civil rights organizations who discussed their top priorities fifty years after the March on Washington.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) commends the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) for revising its Criminal Background Policy Statement. The revisions to HANO's policy follow many of the recommendations LDF submitted in writing last month.

Today, the Houston Chronicle published an editorial calling on the Harris County District Attorney and U.S. Senator John Cornyn to show leadership and demand a new, fair sentencing hearing for LDF client, Duane Buck. Read about it here.

The U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia is the second most important court in the country. It has special jurisdiction for reviewing the actions of federal agencies. Additionally, under the Voting Rights Act, one of its members is required to sit on three-judge panels that decide whether to preclear voting changes by jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination.

Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review an appellate court’s decision striking down a Michigan law that unconstitutionally rigged the state political system against state residents seeking to enhance racial diversity and access to opportunity at the state’s public universities. Shortly after this law, commonly known as “Proposal 2,” passed through a ballot initiative sponsored by opponents of diversity in 2006, LDF filed suit on behalf of students, faculty, and applicants to the University of Michigan, along with a coalition of civil rights groups, including the ACLU of M

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. mourns the passing, and celebrates the life of James M. Nabrit, III, a true hero of the legal struggle to ensure civil rights for all Americans. Mr. Nabrit passed away in Washington, D.C. on March 22, 2013.

The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) joined the U.S. Department of Justice and the Meridian Public School District in Meridian, Mississippi in filing a landmark consent decree that addresses harsh and unlawful school discipline policies that disproportionately targeted African-American students. Known as Barnhardt v.

David R. Jones, President & CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), weighed in this week in on the continuing trend of racial disparities in New York City’s Specialized High Schools and Mayor Bloomberg’s insensitive response.

NAACP Calls Mr. Buck’s Death Penalty Case a

“Blatant Example of Racial Bias”

Today (March 20, 2013) at 1:00pm EDT, please join Christina Swarns, Director of LDF's Criminal Justice Project, for a live chat with Ed Pilkington of The Guardian discussing the Texas death penalty case of Duane Buck, who was sentenced to death after his jury was told he would pose a future danger beca

In a letter to New York officials, LDF comments on New York State's Action Plan, which outlines the State's plan to spend federal funds for Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. In our letter, LDF expresses concerns that the State's plan does not provide sufficient details for citizens to determine whether New York has met all the federal requirements for receiving the funds.

The premier African American newspaper in Philadelphia recently recounted a powerful address delivered by Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill to an audience of over 150 including civil rights leaders, congressional staffers, judges, at a reception hosted by the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski in Washington, D.C. In her remarks Ifill, who became Director-Counsel of the LDF earlier this year, described her vision for the organization's work, including an emphasis on removing barriers to economic opportunity for African Americans.

One year ago this Friday the LDF family lost our esteemed President and Director-Counsel John Payton. John’s early death was not only a loss for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, it was a loss for all who seek justice, are committed to the cause of civil and human rights, and struggle to make our democracy live up to its promises of fairness and equality for all. As President Barrack Obama noted at the time of his death, John was a “true champion of equality.”

Today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Arizona v. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona,another important voting case, in addition to Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, before the Court this term. This case involves whether Arizona’s Proposition 200, which requires new voter registrants to produce documentary evidence of United States citizenship, must yield to the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Fifty years ago, on March 18, 1963, the United States Supreme Court decided the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, which vindicated the rights guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment and required states to provide defense counsel to individuals accused of serious crimes and unable to afford a lawyer.

LDF Criminal Justice Project Director, Christina Swarns, speaks with David Martin Davies of Texas Public Radio on how racial bias influenced the death penalty sentence against Duane Buck. Her interview begins 15:33 minutes into this audio replay.

Today, the Maryland legislature voted to repeal its death penalty law. Once the Maryland Governor signs this legislation -- which he introduced -- into law, Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to acknowledge that capital punishment is a failed sentencing option. You can read more about it here.

Damon Hewitt, Director of LDF’s Education Practice Group, was featured in a WNYC radio/www.Schoolbook.com story about LDF’s challenge to the admissions process for New York City’s elite Specialized High Schools.

“Last year almost 1000 students were offered admission to Stuyvesant, only 19 of those offers were to African American students,” said Damon Hewitt . . . “I don’t believe there are only 19 brilliant African-American students rising from 8th to 9th grade.”

LDF Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill called on school districts today to reject harsh practices in schools that push children who pose disciplinary problems into the criminal justice system. Recently LDF filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Education challenging the practices of the Bryan Independent School District in Texas, where school police issue Class C Misdemeanor tickets for students accused of using profanity.

LDF Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill and Special Counsel Debo Adegbile were interviewed on MSNBC at the foot of the Edmund Pettus bridge, the site where marchers were beaten by Alabama police in 1965 while protesting for voting rights.

On March 7, 2013, Rev. William A. "Bill" Lawson, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza, and Rabbi Emeritus Samuel Karff eloquently explained how and why their commitments to faith and justice motivated them to speak out and publicly ask the Harris County District Attorney to ensure that Duane Buck -- who was sentenced to death in 1997 after a prosecutor elicited testimony indicating that he posed a future danger because he was Black — receives a new, fair sentencing hearing.

On March 8, LDF Special Counsel, Debo Adegbile, talked with The Cycle hosts on MSNBC about Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, the current challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. According to Mr. Adegbile, Section 5, the heart of the Voting Rights Act, helps ensure a more inclusive democracy. With Mr. Adegbile defending the constitutionality of Section 5 on behalf of six African-American voters, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case on February 27.

Ryan Haygood, Director of LDF's Political Participation Group, discusses, on the Rachael Maddow Show, why it is imperative that the U. S. Supreme Court uphold the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

A recent editorial spotlights how being too poor to hire a lawyer in a criminal felony case should not be a barrier to counsel; one must be provided freely by the jurisdiction as the Supreme Court ruled 50 years ago inGideon v. Wainwright. However, jurisdistions have found ways to shirk this responsibility to the detriment of those who have no other recourse.

On the weekend marking the 48th commemoration of Bloody Sunday, NAACP LDF President & Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill appears on local Alabama television stations and reminds the nation of the continuing need for the Voting Rights Act.

From the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, NAACP LDF President & Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill appeared on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show on MSNBC on March 2 — one day before the annual commemoration of Bloody Sunday.

From Selma, Alabama, NAACP LDF Special Counsel Debo Adegbile appears on CNN to explain how the Voting Rights Act remains a necessary tool to remedy over a century of voting discrimination, and “captures what is best in America”—the ability of all to participate in the political process.

Christina Swarns, Director of LDF’s Criminal Justice Project, has been invited by Christiane Féral-Schuhl, the President of the Paris Bar, to participate in the upcoming Paris Bar Conference, “Ces Femmes Qui Portent La Robe – Femmes Engages, Femmes de Réseau” (“These Women Who Wear the Robe – Women Engaged, Women Networking”). This event will take place on International Women’s Day, Friday, March 8, 2013, at La Maison du Barreau in Paris.

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013, Debo P. Adegbile of the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF) presented oral argument on behalf of defendant-intervenors in the Supreme Court in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, one of the most important civil rights cases in a generation.

SCOTUS Dispatch: 'Hush Fell' Over Courtroom

Your Take: A civil rights lawyer's view of the scene as the high court heard a voting-rights case.

Sherrilyn Ifill, LDF's Director-Counsel, appears on PBS NewsHour with host Judy Woodruff, and explains that Section 5, the "preclearance" section and heart of the Voting Rights Act, remains vital today. Section 5 protects the rights of voters of color who live in places with the worst and most persistent history of voting discrimination.

Once again, race is front and center at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. And once again, the bull's eye is the 1965 Voting Rights Act, widely viewed as the most effective and successful civil rights legislation in American history. Upheld five times by the court, the law now appears to be on life support.

The Supreme Court almost never says why it refuses to take a case. On Monday, however, when the court denied a petition from the man convicted in Calhoun v. United States, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, issued a rare explanatory statement.

The Washington Post editorial, "The Voting Rights Act's work isn't finished," lauds the Act as "one of this country's foremost accomplishments." The editorial also recognizes that the VRA's objective -- to "stamp out the varied and shifting strategies local officials used to prevent African Americans from voting" -- includes blocking continued efforts by officials to dilute minority voting strength. It is, as LDF's brief contends, "new poison in old bottles."

Voting Rights Act Before The Supreme Court

United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a sharp rebuke to Texas federal prosecutors for racially charged remarks made during the trial of Bongani Charles Calhoun, an African-American man accused of participating in a drug conspiracy. Justice Sotomayor, in a statement joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, recounted the racially inflammatory remarks made by the Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas: “You’ve got African-Americans, you’ve got Hispanics, you

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder on February 27, 2013. Debo Adegbile, Special Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) will argue on behalf of intervenors in defense of the Voting Rights Act.

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — The murders of three young civil rights workers bent on registering black voters during 1964's "Freedom Summer" still haunts this tiny town in central Mississippi.

Jewel Rush McDonald shudders at the thought of the beatings her mother and brother endured at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan five days before the murders. Stanley Dearman bemoans the four decades it took to get even one manslaughter conviction, and only after he badgered state officials in his weekly newspaper.

LDF's complaint regarding a Texas school district's policy of issuing criminal misdemeanor tickets to students was featured in Education Week. The article includes a quote from LDF attorney Rachel Kleinman, Assistant Counsel of the Education Group:

"Instead of 'policing' students, school districts should adopt proven alternatives to keep misbehavior in check without treating young people like criminals"

In the wake of the Supreme Court's review of Shelby County v. Holder, a case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has launched an oral history project in which viewers are asked to share their memories about the passage of the Act and how it changed their lives or communities. Even those not old enough to remember passage of the Act are encouraged to share how the Voting Rights Act has affected their community. Viewers have only 3 minutes to share their story.

Don't let Sandy become another Katrina: Opinion

The first allocations of the $50.5 billion in federal Hurricane Sandy relief aid, approved late last month, are headed the Northeast’s way. The announcements were welcome news to people still struggling in Sandy’s aftermath, but if policymakers aren’t careful, they could bungle relief efforts in ways we haven’t seen since Hurricane Katrina.

When I heard that University of Maryland law school professor Sherrilyn Ifill had taken the reins of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, I was deep into the reading a new book about the early life of Thurgood Marshall.

Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began a series of hearings on legislative proposals to prevent or reduce gun violence, in the aftermath of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December. The hearing was entitled, "What Should America Do About Gun Violence." Among the featured witnesses were former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence.

Sherrilyn Ifill insists that this is the time to play offense, not defense.

Ifill, the new president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that organizations working to protect and expand the rights of African-Americans must forcefully push a proactive agenda instead of only react to legal decisions that affect minority Americans.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The document and the event were separated by 100 years, but each spoke with equal clarity and urgency to the principles of liberty, equality and opportunity to which we aspire as a nation. There is perhaps no more important institution in keeping us on this path than the public education system. Yet, stark differences in the quality of education available to students of different races persist and demean us all.

Today, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Shelby County v. Holder. The case involves a challenge by Shelby County, Alabama, to the Section 5 “preclearance” provision of the Voting Rights Act, which requires states and jurisdictions with some of the worst histories of voting discrimination, such as Alabama, to have all voting changes reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice or the D.C.

Sherrilyn Ifill was named the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund back in November. Today she joined Roland Martin on the TJMS to discuss the importance of the organization and outline some initiatives that are currently happening.

The presence of Thurgood Marshall is almost palpable as Sherrilyn Ifill surveys the stately wood paneling, the brown leather chairs in this classroom at the University of Maryland law school. Ifill has been a law professor at the Baltimore campus for 20 years — an achievement made possible by the late Supreme Court justice’s work.

As a young lawyer, Marshall, who lived just blocks away, sued the law school for denying entry to students of color. He prevailed, paving the way for generations of African American lawyers such as Ifill.

“When we look at whose schools are policed and which students have to go through metal detectors, get pad-downs, get drug-searched on a routine basis, it’s our students of color and our communities of color across this country,” said Matthew Cregor, of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. "The Newtown, Connecticut, massacre has led to renewed calls for an increased police presence in schools.

Groups not typically associated with the debate over gun rights have taken a strong interest in the proposals that the White House put forward. Civil rights activists, mayors, psychiatrists, scientists and teachers are among those who plan to dispatch lobbyists to try and shape the debate. ...

President Obama’s gun-control recommendations have created a lobbying free-for-all on Capitol Hill.

Groups not typically associated with the debate over gun rights have taken a strong interest in the proposals that the White House put forward. Civil rights activists, mayors, psychiatrists, scientists and teachers are among those who plan to dispatch lobbyists to try and shape the debate.

As the National Rifle Association pushes for armed guards in every school, "Democracy Now!" hosted an on-air debate over what type of security measures should be taken in schools to prevent future tragedies. Featured guests included Sean Burke, president of the School Safety Advocacy Council; and Damon Hewitt, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and co-author of "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Structuring Legal Reform" (NYU Press 2010).

A coalition of advocacy groups including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is pushing back against the idea of upping the number of armed police officers in schools, a suggestion being considered by the White House in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting tragedy.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) has developed a Know Your Rights Academy to address unlawful, stops, frisks, searches, and arrests by NYPD officers conducting vertical patrols and enforcing criminal trespass in NYCHA buildings. The Academy will train a cadre of Manhattan NYCHA residents in the fundamentals of organizing and facilitation of Know Your Rights workshops for NYCHA residents as it relates to their interactions with law enforcement.

Last week the D.C. Council failed to act on the Returning Citizens Anti-Discrimination Act of 2012, opting instead to adopt a much weaker approach to helping ex-offenders in the city find jobs. If enacted, the Returning Citizens Anti-Discrimination Act would have prohibited employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history until after they make a provisional offer of employment.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has been called the law firm for black America. Once run by Thurgood Marshall, the group played a major role in desegregating public schools and fighting restrictions at the ballot box.

Now, the Legal Defense Fund is preparing for a new leader — just as the Supreme Court considers cases that could pare back on those gains.

As city populations rise and fall, and shift – trends reflected in U.S. Census Bureau data – municipalities are tasked with redistricting their city council boundaries. And in one Arkansas city, new software helps with the process.

At a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday about ending the 'school-to-prison pipeline,' leaders in the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice said they expect to provide guidance to schools about school discipline policies, a measure that would add to the growing list of actions the current administration has taken in this arena.

At a congressional hearing billed as the first-ever focused on ending the “school-to-prison pipeline,” Edward Ward emerged as a voice of experience.

Ward, a recent high school graduate from Chicago, recalled classmates suspended for failing to wear ID badges and security officers patrolling hallways. Arrests were so common that a police processing center was created on campus “so they could book students then and there,” he said at the hearing Wednesday.

(The Root) -- On Wednesday, less than two months after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Mississippi officials for systematically incarcerating African-American children, the Senate heard its first-ever testimony about the "school-to-prison pipeline" -- the label assigned to the nationwide pattern of young people being sent to police stations, courtrooms and juvenile-detention centers for minor or trivial offenses.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found a basis for Nicole Cogdell's claim that she was racially discriminated against at the clothing retailer Wet Seal's King of Prussia store - the case now moves to federal court.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found that the Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal illegally discriminated against a former store manager after one of the company's executives complained about too many black employees at a store in Pennsylvania, according to a New York Times report and an attorney involved in the case.

It’s just the latest problem to plague Wet Seal: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that the fashion retailer discriminated against a former African American store manager.

In January 2013, Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill will become the seventh president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She recently inherited the position, which was left vacant in March by the untimely death of her predecessor, John Payton, a brilliant courtroom strategist who led the LDF in resounding legal victories.

Step by step, the Supreme Court has been trying to reshape the way the American criminal justice system deals with those under the age of 18. In Miller v. Alabama this June, it ruled that a mandatory life sentence without parole for a juvenile is cruel and unusual punishment, even when the crime is homicide.

Californians brought a close to a shameful period in the state’s history when they voted this month to soften the infamous “three strikes” sentencing law. The original law was approved by ballot initiative in 1994, not long after a parolee kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl. It was sold to voters as a way of getting killers, rapists and child molesters off the streets for good.

Every year, New York City middle-schoolers subject themselves to a grueling academic ritual that could make or break their educational futures, or so they're told. The 2.5-hour multiple-choice Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) serves as the sole gateway to a suite of elite public schools -- particularly Bronx Science, Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Technical. The kids who make the cut tend to be disproportionately Asian and white; Latino and black students are vastly underrepresented.

The civil rights office of the federal Department of Education has rightly decided to investigate a complaint filed in September by civil rights groups over the admissions policies of eight highly competitive “specialized” high schools in New York City, among which are Stuyvesant, the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School.

California’s voters softened one of the nation’s most destructive and unfair sentencing policies this week when they approved a ballot initiative revising the infamous three-strikes law of 1994, which imposes a life sentence for any felony conviction — no matter how minor — if the defendant has two previous serious convictions.

District attorney’s offices in New York City have generally supported the Police Department — or kept quiet about their reservations — during the escalating battle over the department’s stop-and-frisk program, under which hundreds of thousands of citizens are stopped every year, often for no reason.

The reality of demographics mandates a sharp focus on creating leaders from the burgeoning Hispanic and Asian American communities. The history of Vietnam tells us we need to keep that same focus on the African American community. Leaders are created, not born, and a particular responsibility lies with higher education to ensure a sustained flow of leaders to meet this county’s national security needs.

Rachel Kleinman, Assistant Counsel of LDFs Education Group , discusses the complaint against the admissions policies at New York City Specialized High Schools in an interview on Intersect, a community forum found on Brooklyn Independent Television.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City was distressingly dismissive this month when a coalition of civil rights groups filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education over the admissions policies of the city’s eight “specialized” high schools — prestigious, highly competitive institutions that are among the best high schools in the country.

The U.S. Supreme Court took up a case on whether race should be considered in college applications. Gwen Ifill talks to National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle who explains the arguments. Ray Suarez talks to NAACP's Debo Adegbile and the Century Foundation's Richard Kahlenberg about potential implications for public institutions.

At yesterday’s oral argument, the Justices grappled with the University of Texas’s articulation of what I will call “diversity within diversity,” referring to the consideration of distinctive characteristics of individuals within underrepresented minority groups.

For many students, college is the first time that they have meaningful interactions with people of other races. Because many of our nation’s neighborhoods and schools remain segregated, not by law but in fact, the opportunities to learn from, work with, and live alongside people who are different are often limited in American life. For decades, the United States Supreme Court has helped to break down these barriers through landmark rulings that paved he way for the nation’s universities to pursue the twin goals of academic excellence and broad diversity.

Heman Marion Sweatt and Abigail Noel Fisher both wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin.

Both claimed their race was a primary reason for their rejection. Both filed civil rights lawsuits, and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed to hear their separate appeals -- filed more than half a century apart.

In school districts across the nation, talented African Americans and other students of color are denied a fair opportunity to gain access to the life-changing educational experiences provided by specialized schools for high-achieving students and gifted/talented education programs. As a result, elite public schools and programs, which provide key pathways to college and then to leadership locally, regionally, and nationally, are among the most segregated.

Heman Marion Sweatt and Abigail Noel Fisher both wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin.

Both claimed their race was a primary reason for their rejection. Both filed civil rights lawsuits, and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed to hear their separate appeals -- filed more than half a century apart.

When I started school in Virginia in 1968, the public schools in my county were still segregated by race. When our school board finally began complying with Brown vs. Board of Education, a group of parents decided to start an all-white private school. They showed up in our driveway one evening to convince my parents to join them. My father — a white factory worker and a son of the brutally segregated South — sent them away unhappy.

Sandra Bookman will take a look at a controversial complaint that was recently filed with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the sole use of test scores for entrance to specialized high schools in New York City disproportionately excludes African-American and Latino students. She'll speak about the issue with Damon Hewitt, the director of education of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Esmeralda Simmons, the founder and executive director for the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.

The New York City Police Department has come under criticism in recent years for arresting people for trespassing in public housing, often for little or no reason. The trespassing arrests are a variation on the city’s broader, and highly controversial, stop-and-frisk program.

NYU professor Kenji Yoshino and Debo Adegbile of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund join the Melissa Harris-Perry panel to talk about how the Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments this week for Fisher vs. University of Texas addressing affirmative action.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments this month in a case with the potential to end the use of race as a factor in college admissions (Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin). Conservatives are eager for a sweeping ruling accomplishing just that. But their zeal betrays longstanding conservative values about states’ rights and the role of the courts. And the country is not exactly clamoring for the change they seek.

Mr. Aronson, an associate professor at New York University, has been a leader in investigating the effects of social forces on academic achievement. Along with the psychologist Claude Steele, he identified the phenomenon known as “stereotype threat.” Members of groups believed to be academically inferior — African-American and Latino students enrolled in college, or female students in math and science courses — score much lower on tests when reminded beforehand of their race or gender.

MANHATTAN (CN) - A federal judge cited Jay-Z, noted rapper and legal philosopher, in a footnote to her order approving a lawsuit challenging New York City's practice of sending "vertical patrols" of police to search public housing residents.

"In one of his most popular songs, the rapper Jay-Z - who grew up in NYCHA's Marcy Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn - showcased his knowledge of these Fourth Amendment rights," U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin wrote in a footnote of her recent order.

The civil rights complaint filed last week against the city’s Department of Education by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund creates an opportunity for long overdue changes in how students are admitted to New York’s best public high schools.

A federal judge in Manhattan declared on Thursday that the rules against loitering in public housing complexes were unconstitutionally vague, and gave the police too much discretion about whom to arrest.

The ruling by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan allowed a lawsuit challenging police arrests for trespassing in housing projects to move closer to trial.

Even more so today than when the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s race-conscious admissions policy nine years ago in Grutter v. Bollinger, there is broad consensus that a diverse college experience better prepares students to participate in our nation’s civic life and our rapidly globalizing economy. This consensus is reflected by the wide spectrum of amicus filings suppodrting the University of Texas’s admissions program in Fisher v.

The Sweatt family’s brief in the pending Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas, which the justices will hear next Wednesday, makes much of Chief Justice Vinson’s reference to “the interplay of ideas and the exchange of views.” It was, the brief maintains, “this court’s first recognition of the importance of diversity in higher education.”

Picture this: You’ve worked hard all of your life. You have the grades and academic awards to prove it. You are recognized as one of the best students in your peer group. And you have the chance to apply for an educational opportunity that could change your life. But getting this opportunity requires that you take a test. No other factors matter.

Yet it turns out that this test has never been shown to actually measure whether you are qualified for that big opportunity, and it certainly doesn’t take into account all the work you have done.

On September 30, Acting Director of Litigation at LDF Elise Boddie, discussed on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" the future of affirmative action and the Supreme Court in the upcoming Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city's eight specialized high schools are for the best and the brightest and he thinks the best way to find those students is the way it's been done for decades, using only the results of one 2.5-hour test.

"I think that Stuyvesant and these other schools are as fair as fair can be," he said Wednesday. "There's nothing subjective about this. You pass the test with the higher score, you get into the school, no matter what your ethnicity, no matter what your economic background."

The U.S. Supreme Court term that begins Monday promises to be one of the most important for civil rights in decades, with the potential for blockbuster decisions on issues from race in classrooms and the voting booth to legal recognition for same-sex marriage.

It seemed like a good strategy: To boost the tiny number of black and Hispanic students at the city’s most elite high schools, the city this year expanded access to programs meant to prepare eighth-graders for the schools’ admissions test.

But that approach is fundamentally broken, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test.

An I-Team investigation uncovers the ethnic discrepancies at New York's best public schools, and why groups are pushing for a change to the admission exam at schools like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. Melissa Russo reports.

A coalition of educational and civil rights groups filed a federal complaint on Thursday saying that black and Hispanic students were disproportionately excluded from New York City’s most selective high schools because of a single-test admittance policy they say is racially discriminatory.

“All that stupid test shows is how good someone is at taking a test,” she said.

This was after I asked her to spend more time on the Kaplan test prep book on our dinner table — the one that’s supposed to help eighth-graders like her prepare for next month’s New York City Specialized High Schools Admission Test.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights about New York City's specialized high schools' admissions process. The complaint alleges that reliance on an unproven test as the sole determinant for admissions leads to disproportionately low numbers of African-American and Latino students at the schools and violates the civil rights of many minority students who are not admitted.

In a significant blow to New York City’s use of stop-and-frisk tactics, the Bronx district attorney’s office is no longer prosecuting people who were stopped at public housing projects and arrested for trespassing, unless the arresting officer is interviewed to ensure that the arrest was warranted.

September 25, 2012: National Voter Registration Day

LDF is pleased to announce that its former President and Director-Counsel, Elaine R. Jones, received the Trailblazer Award from the Just the Beginning Foundation (JTBF) on September 22, 2012 at its Gala Dinner in Chicago, Illinois. JBTF is composed primarily of judges and lawyers who develop educational programs designed to interest students of color in legal careers. Its goal is to increase racial diversity in the legal profession and the judiciary.

LDF is proud to announce that our very own Acting President and Director-Counsel, Debo Adegbile, is named among "The Root 100 Honorees for 2012." These 100 black achievers and influencers are recognized for their work and achievements in representing the ideals of the The Root this year.

In a major ruling on [August 30, 2012,] a federal court blocked a controversial Texas law that would require voters to show photo identification before casting ballots. The court said the law could curtail the ability of hundreds of thousands of minorities to vote. It cited evidence that showed the law did the most harm to African Americans and Hispanics, who are more likely to live in poverty.

Statement of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represents the Texas League of Young Voters Education Fund and Black college students at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern Universities who have intervened in the case:

Ryan Haygood, Director of Political Participation Group at NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said:

On August 30, a federal three-judge panel in Washington, DC denied Texas's ability to implement its proposed photo voter ID law, under the core provision of the Voting Rights Act that LDF successfully defended in the Supreme Court in 2009.

The picture of who will be the Louisiana Supreme Court's next chief justice may be muddy, but one aspect is perfectly clear: When it comes to the public portion of the fight, Justice Bernette Johnson is winning. Although it's strictly an administrative issue, Johnson's quest to become the state's first African-American chief jurist has taken on the air of a full-throated, mission-driven and confident political campaign waged under the banner of the civil rights movement.

(Reuters) - A judge in the election battleground state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday rejected an effort to block the state's voter identification law, which civil rights groups argued discriminates against minority voters.

The Obama administration on Monday joined a long list of higher-education associations, civil-rights groups, and other organizations in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold race-conscious admission policies in a case involving the University of Texas at Austin.

On Oct. 10, the justices will hear arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, in which a rejected white applicant to the school challenges the admissions practices, which include race as a factor.

It will be the first time since a 2003 case involving the University of Michigan that the high court will take up the issue. In that case, the Supreme Court said the school did not violate the Constitution's equal protection provision by using race in its admissions decisions.

For Cris Rubio, there wasn't much suspense about what came after he graduated high school in 2003. Rubio had been second in his class for much of his four years — he eventually finished fourth — and under the Texas Top Ten Percent Plan, any student in the top 10 percent of their high school class, by grade-point average, was given automatic admission to any state public university.

Updated Aug. 14, 1 p.m.: The chorus calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the University of Texas at Austin's current policy allowing race to be a factor in admissions decisions has been joined by the family of Heman Sweatt, who was famously denied access to the University of Texas School of Law in 1946 because he was black.

"On this anniversary, we recognize that the Voting Rights Act embodies the highest ideals and commitments of our shared democratic values," said Debo P. Adegbile, LDF's Acting President and Director-Counsel. "These values endure as does America's commitment to them. All Americans are entitled to express their voice with their votes, and the Voting Rights Act continues to stand for this proposition."

In what seems her natural state, Christina Swarns is as sweetly plainspoken and easygoing as a kindergarten teacher, which, decidedly, she is not.

Seated across a conference table in a corner-view meeting room on the 16th floor of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund offices in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, Swarns brightens another 100 watts when mentioning a collect call the day before from a client she helped get off death row four years ago—someone “near and dear to my heart.”

Three former managers at Wet Seal, a nationwide apparel retailer for young women, filed a federal race discrimination lawsuit on Thursday, asserting that the company had a high-level policy of firing and denying pay increases and promotions to African-American employees because they did not fit its “brand image.”

MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts speaks to Debo Adegbile, Interim President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Defense Fund, about changes to Florida’s voting laws and the impact they could have on minority voters.

More than a thousand friends and admirers of the late John A. Payton gathered in mid April at the Washington Convention Center to celebrate his many extraordinary contributions to the cause of justice in American and abroad. We present here the transcript of that service as well as a video tribute John's A. Payton's former colleagues at the law firm of WilmerHale produced.

Florida's Secretary of State Ken Detzner is boldly refusing to comply with the Department of Justice's demand that the state stop its efforts to purge voters from the registration rolls. On Wednesday, he sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice claiming that the purge should go forward.

On May 20, 2012, Gay J. McDougall served as the 2012 Commencement speaker of Georgetown Law School. As the former United Nations Expert on Minorities, Ms. McDougall spoke to the importance of lawyers in ensuring that American society remains one of justice and equality for all people.

Louis H. Pollak, a federal judge and former dean of two prestigious law schools who played a significant role in major civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, died on Tuesday at his home in Philadelphia. He was 89.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is deeply saddened by the passing of Judge Louis H. Pollak, a legendary figure in LDF’s and this nation’s quest for racial justice and equality. Fighting for equality may have been part of Judge Pollak’s destiny because his father, Walter Pollak, argued the infamous Scottsboro case in the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Pollak’s contributions, however, were truly awe-inspiring. After graduating from Yale Law School in 1948, Louis Pollak clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge. It was then that he befriended William T.

In the early 1960s Nicholas Katzenbach was part of the cadre of talented lawyers from the Justice Department who worked to ensure that the national promise of equality too long ignored was finally kept. In those years, Katzenbach, as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s deputy and later as Attorney General himself, led the Department’s efforts to eliminate Jim Crow, secure the right to vote; and to open the public schools and other institutions of the Southern U.S. to blacks.

The current foreclosure crisis constitutes a monumental civil rights issue. Communities of color were targeted for risky mortgage loans, have experienced disproportionately high foreclosure rates, and have been stripped of vast amounts of wealth because of discriminatory lending practices.

Few cases involving the intersection of race, criminal law, and procedure have had the reach and impact of McCleskey v. Kemp, a United States Supreme Court decision decided 25 years ago, on April 22, 1987. This decision set the stage for more than 20 years of dramatically increasing racial disparities within the criminal justice system.

The multiple doors to the cavernous grand hall on the third floor of the Washington Convention Center were opened early Monday afternoon and a multitude of people poured in from the realms of law, government, the judiciary, academia, and social justice organizations in the U.S. and abroad.

John Payton, who died on March 22at the age of 65, had an infectious optimism and confidence that made all good things not simply possible but probable. As the leader of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., John reset the odds in the fight for equality.

Last week the world lost one of its most revered and effective legal warriors in the battle for civil rights: John A. Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. President Barack Obama said in a statement, "The legal community has lost a legend, and while we mourn John's passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms." We asked his friends and colleagues to share their sentiments, as well.

Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of our dear friend John Payton. As president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, John led the organization’s involvement in five Supreme Court cases. A true champion of equality, he helped protect civil rights in the classroom and at the ballot box. The legal community has lost a legend, and while we mourn John's passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms.

Jakayla Ivory, a St. Louis high-school student convicted of second-degree assault, likely would have gotten two years in jail. Instead, she went to school at Jimmie Edwards' Innovative Concept Academy.

Edwards, a St. Louis Juvenile Court judge, started the public school in 2009 with the purpose of serving students who might otherwise be lost to the juvenile justice system.

A report shows that nearly 60 percent of Texas students were suspended or expelled between 7th and 12th grade, many of them multiple times. That can lead students to stay back a grade, drop out of school or get in trouble with the law. Is it time to reassess how schools deal with bad behavior?

Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the first federal appellate challenge to the use of race in university admissions since the Court's landmark 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger. Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it would take up a lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas, setting the stage for it to reconsider affirmative-action policies that it had ruled constitutional in 2003, before its composition significantly changed.

Conservative activists and Republican attorneys general have launched a series of lawsuits meant to challenge the most muscular provision of the Voting Rights Act 0f 1965 before a Supreme Court that has signaled it is suspicious of its constitutionality.

Working their way to the high court are lawsuits from Arizona to North Carolina, challenging Section 5 of the historic civil rights act. The provision requires states and localities with a history of discrimination to get federal approval of any changes in their voting laws.

It was the late 1950s when two native Virginians, Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, whose ancestors included Native Americans as well as African Americans, made the decision to become husband and wife. They had lived their entire lives in the state, which rigidly enforced segregation, yet discovered that their devotion to each other was in fact color blind. They were determined to live freely as man and wife – a commitment that ultimately changed history.

A broad coalition of 38 civil rights, education reform and business groups sent House education chairman John Kline a scathing letter Wednesday, describing his No Child Left Behind legislation as potentially racist.

"It undermines the core American value of equal opportunity in education embodied in Brown v. Board of Education," the groups wrote.

There’s a steadfast cheeriness to Christina Swarns as she talks rapid fire about the contours of her day. There are the rigors of her end-to-end Manhattan commute, how rarely she dresses like a grown-up and the usual challenges of the professional working mom.

Instead of ensuring that voting rights are extended to all Americans, many state legislatures are engaged in efforts to shut out voters in this election year, taking aim at young people, immigrants and minorities.

A top GOP lawmaker's plan for rewriting the No Child Left Behind Act amounts to a "rollback" of the law, 38 business, civil rights, and other advocacy organizations said in a letter, sent Jan. 24 to its sponsor.

The draft from U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House education committee, "would thrust us back to an earlier time when states could choose to ignore disparities for children of color, low-income students, English-language learners, and students with disabilities," the letter says.

Opposition to Committee Republicans' draft education proposals continues to mount. Nearly 40 organizations – representing a broad cross section of civil rights, disability, business and education organizations – today come out against the draft bills, calling them a “rollback” that “undermines the core American value of equal opportunity of education.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 7-2 vote Wednesday that an Alabama death row prisoner should not be prevented from appealing because he missed a deadline after his lawyers dropped his case and failed to tell him.

The two lawyers at the New York firm of Sullivan and Cromwell failed to alert Alabama court authorities, so that when a court clerk sent papers to the lawyers, the firm's mailroom returned them unopened marked, "Return to Sender — Left Firm" and "Returned to Sender — Attempted, Unknown."

Today, LDF filed a “friend of the court” brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Department of Health & Human Services v. Florida. The briefurges the Court to uphold the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the landmark health care legislation passed by Congress in 2010, which has been challenged on constitutional grounds.

The Fayette County Board of Education has agreed to settle its part of an NAACP lawsuit challenging the county's voting process that the civil right group says has kept blacks from serving on the school board and county commission.

On January 4, 2012, Maryland’s highest court issued a unanimous ruling in Richmond v. District Court of Maryland that guarantees the right of indigent defendants to have a lawyer present at their initial bail hearing. At this hearing which occurs shortly after an individual is arrested and detained, a District Court Commissioner determines whether there was probable cause for the arrest and, if so, whether the individual should be released pending trial and under what conditions.

Robert L. Carter, a former federal judge in New York who, as a lawyer, was a leading strategist and a persuasive voice in the legal assault on racial segregation in 20th-century America, died on Tuesday morning in Manhattan. He was 94.

The cause was complications of a stroke, said his son John W. Carter, a justice of the New York Supreme Court in the Bronx.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund mourns the passing of Judge Robert L. Carter, a true giant of the struggle for racial justice and equality. Judge Carter lived an extraordinary life. A graduate of Howard Law School, he was one of the original members of the legal team Thurgood Marshall gathered at the Legal Defense Fund in the early 1940s.

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s journey through the American death penalty system began on December 9, 1981, when he was arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Six months later, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for this crime. In the years that followed, Abu-Jamal’s case attracted national and international attention; recorded remarkable victories and painful losses; and came to symbolize the failure of the American capital punishment system.

(New York, NY) -- Today, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced that it will not seek another death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Pennsylvania law now requires Mr. Abu-Jamal to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for his controversial 1982 murder conviction in the shooting death of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The NAACP has been collecting information about early voting advocacy by black churches in Florida, hoping to convince the Justice Department to strike down a slew of new state voting laws it claims are intended to thwart growing minority participation at the polls ahead of next year's presidential election.

In a report released Monday, the NAACP argues that the new laws amount to a coordinated and comprehensive assault on minorities' voting rights at a time when their numbers in the population and at the ballot box have increased.

State-level voting restrictions are an attempt to suppress the minority vote and prevent them from exercising political influence, according to a report released by the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Monday.

In January 2009, when Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos took office, she lost no time in making good on her campaign promise to restore that department's integrity, left in tatters by her disgraced immediate predecessor.

The last white man to join death row from Harris County was a convicted serial killer in 2004. Since then, 12 of the last 13 men newly condemned to die have been black, a Houston Chronicle analysis of prison and prosecution records shows.

Richard Thompson Ford (“Moving Beyond Civil Rights,” Op-Ed, Oct. 28) asserts that “civil rights have barely made a dent in today’s most severe and persistent social injustices” and suggests that part of the problem is an inordinate focus on “individual injuries.” Although Mr. Ford rightly addresses the importance of tackling racial inequality, he articulates an artificially narrow view of the possibilities of civil rights litigation.

Yesterday was the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Memorial here in Washington. Some of you may have snuck away from this conference to be there. I was there. It was inspiring because the moral commitment of the civil rights movement is now center stage in at least part of our national culture. But it was also challenging because we have a long way to go. We are, I hope, past the absurd claim that we are

ABIGAIL FISHER, a white student, says she was denied admission to the University of Texas because of her race. She sued in Federal District Court in Austin, causing Judge Sam Sparks to spend time trying to make sense of a 2003 Supreme Court decision allowing racial preferences in higher education. “I’ve read it till I’m blue in the face,” Judge Sparks said in an early hearing in Ms.

Jacqueline A. Berrien has been the chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) since April 2010. A Harvard Law School graduate, Berrien practiced civil rights law for many years, assisted underrepresented groups as a program officer for the Ford Foundation, and came to the EEOC from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she served as associate director-counsel.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the Philadelphia district attorney's office in the racially charged case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, bringing an end to nearly 30 years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted in his death sentence for the 1981 shooting of a police officer, the Washington Post reports.

While his case has been famous among anti-death penalty activists and social-justice advocates for decades, this new development is no doubt even more poignant for many in light of the recent execution of Troy Davis.

Philadelphia (CNN) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal to get a new sentencing hearing for the killing of a Philadelphia police officer 30 years ago.

The high court rejected a request from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to overturn the federal appeals court decision declaring the death sentence unconstitutional for Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther who was convicted in 1982 of gunning down a Philadelphia police officer.

Derrick Bell

1930 – 2011

The New York Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the lawsuit to overturn a law passed by the 2010 Democratic legislative majority that would count prison inmates in the communities they are from, instead of in the towns and counties where they’re incarcerated.

The lawsuit was brought by six Senate Republicans–many of whom would be affected by the law–who are claiming, among other things, that the prisoners must be counted where the US Census counts them (in predominately upstate prisons).

Nearly 40 years ago, a group of N.C. blacks met in Charlotte to take stock of where African-Americans were statewide in education, housing and jobs.

Despite the 1960s civil rights victories, blacks still lived in a segregated world - many clustered in public housing. Their schools were still largely separate and ill-equipped. The rise of blacks in corporate America was slow.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to election monitoring required under the Voting Rights Act to ensure mostly southern states are no longer disenfranchising black voters and found that discrimination continues in modern-day polling.

Once again, the most avid supporters of capital punishment in Texas should be pleased that a scheduled execution has been stopped, at least temporarily.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution Thursday of Duane Buck, the kind of person who, if you believe in capital punishment, fits the description of who should receive this most final of penalties.

After granting a stay of execution to Duane Buck just hours before he was to be put to death in Texas on Thursday, the Supreme Court must now review the case or, at the very least, order a lower federal court to consider Mr. Buck’s plea for a new sentencing hearing. It cannot allow a terrible injustice to stand.

A lawyer who worked on the Harris County District Attorney's prosecution team that sent Duane Edward Buck to death row is calling on state officials to halt the execution scheduled for Thursday and allow for a new sentencing trial in the case.

According to U.S. Census data, Morgan County has 14,000 people and 600 of them are African-American. But that’s a bit misleading because 581 of them are incarcerated, among the 1,800 prisoners housed in the county.

Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, and Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, think those 1,800 prisoners, including the 581 African-Americans, should be counted for purposes of drawing legislative districts in the county where they lived before they were jailed.

This month, the Citizens Redistricting Commission released preliminary final maps that are expected to become the statewide redistricting plans for Congressional and state legislative districts in California.

Chicago will hire 111 bypassed black firefighters by March 2012 and pay at least $30 million in damages to some 6,000 others who will never get that chance, under a court order expected to be approved Wednesday by a federal judge.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed that African-American candidates did not wait too long before filing a lawsuit that accused the city of discriminating against them for the way it handled a 1995 firefighter’s entrance exam.

The NAACP filed suit against Fayette County today, alleging that the county’s method of electing members to the County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and attorney Wayne Kendall filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the Georgia State Conference NAACP, Fayette County NAACP and black voters of Fayette County.

The American Bar Association has announced that Elaine R. Jones, former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), will receive the organization’s 2011 Thurgood Marshall Award Saturday.

The Award, honoring the late Supreme Court Justice and LDF founder, will be given during a gala dinner of the association’s annual conference now underway in Toronto, Canada. It honors a recipient’s “substantial, long-term contributions to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties and human rights in the United States.”

While some of the gridlock among policymakers today can be chalked up to principled differences in political philosophy, some political stalemates are the result of policies that defy common sense. This most often happens when politicians ignore basic realities in order to further their own ideologies. This behavior is frustrating in any instance but is particularly galling when the needs of kids are involved.

Last month the NAACP Legal Defense Fund wrote the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to urge the commission to update its policy statement regarding the use of arrest and conviction records in employment screenings.

When the Supreme Court in 2003 narrowly approved the consideration of race in public university admission decisions, it came with loads of restrictions and a sort of expiration date.

“We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the majority in Grutter v. Bollinger.

The Road Home travails of Edward Randolph and Almarie Ford illustrate why government officials need to find additional ways to help homeowners wronged by the program.

The two eastern New Orleans homeowners were among the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging discrimination in the Road Home's formula that paid applicants based on a home's pre-storm value, not the actual cost of rebuilding. A federal judge agreed, and a recent settlement will pay $62 million in rebuilding aid to 1,460 households in metro New Orleans and in Cameron Parish.

Today, the Council of State Governments released a new report that helps to raise awareness about the importance of dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Entitled Breaking Schools’ Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement,the report is the most in-depth of its kind, exam

MANHATTAN (CN) - Public housing residents can proceed with a class action lawsuit claiming that New York City and the New York City Housing Authority allowed the police to set up "checkpoints" that routinely violated tenants' rights in front of their homes, a federal judge ruled.

A lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund praised the decision in an email.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund celebrated its 70th anniversary at a National Archives event June 21, with President and Director-Counsel John Payton calling the fund the nation's "first civil rights firm."

What do President Barack Obama, USAG Eric Holder, EEOC chair Jackie Berrien, and Williams & Connolly’s David Kendall have in common? At some point, they were all affiliated with the NAACP LDF (Legal Defense and Education Fund). We were on hand for LDF’s 70th anniversary on Tuesday at the National Archives.